Life, Love and Sakura Blossoms
by funkirican
Summary: "Sakura, time is running out. I know we're still young but in the Shinobi life, almost everyone dies young. Before you know it, all the guys are going to have someone, and you're going to end up alone." "I know Ino-pig! I just don't know where to start.." "Don't worry forehead, I have a list." Uh-oh.
1. Chapter 1

It's been two years since the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War. So far all of the nations have maintained piece with one another, even though they may not trust at the others one-hundred percent. Because of the lack of trust, there are still some nations that maintain closeness with one another, and some that keep their distance and a close watch, but still continue on with the act of friendliness. Suna and Konoha are among the nations, especially since Naruto was named Hokage. The fifth hokage, Tsunade, and my teacher, is currently heading the medical unit. Shizune is her right hand as always, and I have been promoted to head of the hospital. Naruto still sends me on missions from time to time though, but mostly if it's to go to another land to provide assistance, healing techniques, or just to maintain a medical class. I also get sent over for diplomatic reasons though, after all, being on a team with the current hokage and at one point the student of the previous hokage gets my name out there. I've been named the third most powerful medical shinobi, after Tsunade and Shizune of course. I'm happy with the way life has been since the war. I somehow all of the rookie nine and Team Guy made it out alive. The Suna siblings are doing well also, Gaara has been named as the best Kazekage in the history of their village. He protected each villager with all of his might and with the help of the allied Shinobi force as well of course.

"Forehead are you listening to me?! Hello! I've been trying to get your attention forever! What are you thinking about anyway?" Yup, some things never changed. Ino is still my best friend, even though she can be a loud-mouthed pain in the ass most of the time. I love her anyway.

"Oh, sorry Ino. It was nothing important, don't worry about it. What's up?" She eyed me warily as if assessing my expressions to see if I was hiding something, once she really believed that there was nothing I was hiding, she smiled.

"Well, I was trying to tell you about my date last night. Anyway, Sai took me to the training grounds and planned out a whole picnic. Well, took me is an understatement. Really he like, drew his bird thing on the scroll and we flew there. It was amazing; you should see the village from that height! "

This again. Ever since Sai realized that he was able to access his feelings and emotions again, and understand those of others, he had chased after Ino. Even though she was very open about how hot she thought he was, she said no for the first year of his pursuance. She thought it was a prank that Naruto and I talked Sai into playing on her. After all, she wasn't on his team, how was she to know that he understood feelings again?

"That does sound amazing. Maybe I should ask Sai to take me up to view the village from sky view as well." I made sure to send a wink to Ino as I taunted her. She was always so much fun to pick on.

"Don't you think about it Sakura!" She was livid. I'm sure everyone in the apartment complex could hear her. Even though her loud mouth tendency often resulted in headaches, it was still very much worth picking on her. "Although, when are you going to try and find a guy? I mean, Sasuke is still missing you know?" Ah, worry. That's the expression she holds now. Great. I don't like where this conversation is going.

I sighed, "Well Ino, I am happy with my life now you know… And you out of everyone knows that I'm not waiting on Sasuke anymore. I'm just always so busy, constantly at work and such. I just don't have the time."

"Yeah, you say that. And I know that you don't care about Sasuke anymore, we both gave up on him for the better, and he's too far gone. But you may want to try to make time. I mean, some of the guys our age are already taken. Naruto is with Hinata, Neji and Tenten have their thing…though, I'm not sure if they are off right now or on. Gah! I wish Neji would make up his mind; Tenten is obviously crazy about him. And Shikamaru is with Tamari of the Sand. Times running out. I mean, I guess in the end you'll always have Lee…"

Oh no, oh no no no no, NO! I cringed at the thought of being with Lee. Don't get me wrong, he's always been so nice, but I just don't feel anything around him. He's a good friend though.

"Yeah I know, and I think about it every now and then so don't worry. Also, no offence to Lee, but I'd rather stay single for my life. He's just too hyper for me. Too much, 'youth' I guess." Ino giggled as I flashed the 'bunny ear' marks while saying youth. "And I've already marked Neji off the list. Even if he and Tenten decided they were done, I don't think I could date him. Not unless Tenten didn't hold any feelings at all. She's too good of a friend to do that to. Anyway, you didn't finish telling me about your date, so spill it!" I changed the topic, hoping she wouldn't notice...after all, her date is the whole reason she brought me to sit at our table with her in our little kitchen. Though, now that I think about it, she did have cups of hot cocoa made. Crap, I think I walked into a trap.

"Oh, well, we got to the training grounds. Ate food. Talked about our week. Left. And he kissed me goodnight. Anyways, if not Lee than who?" Just my luck, she noticed and it was a trap after all, damn. "I mean, there's Choji I guess, and don't get me wrong he's really nice and I've enjoyed being on his team, but I just can't see y'all together. He likes junk food too much, and you, being well, you and all. A medical nin, lean more towards the healthy side. So I just don't see that working. Unless I'm wrong of course, I totally wouldn't mind talking to him for you!" I watched her face light up at the idea of setting me up with her friend.

"No thanks Ino-pig, he's nice and all, but you're right. The whole health thing would definitely get in the way. "There. Dodged that bullet. I wonder who she will try to set me up with next.

"Ok, so I was right on that one. Lets see, what about Kiba? He's not doing much these days. In fact, I think I heard Shikamaru say that Kiba was into you a few weeks ago. He just didn't know how to go about telling you. He's cute, right?" Hopeful. Hopeful was the expression on her face this time. If I let this go on much longer, I'm going to feel bad and she'll win this battle. Well, knowing my loudmouthed best friend, at this point no matter what I do I'll lose this battle. Damn, might as well go out somewhat graceful. "By the way, he's not the only one that I heard has the hots for you…."

"Ok Ino. You and I both know that no matter what I say you're going to find a way to hook me up with someone. So I'll give in and bite the hook. Who else have you heard has a thing for me?"

Nothing but pure joy was on her face. I swear, her smile at this point would put Guy-sensei and Lee to shame. Hands down, no ifs ands or buts. "That's right, you know I'll win! Don't worry you won't regret this. Now, lets see, hmmmmm.. I wrote down their names somewhere." Great there's a list. I watched in annoyance as she went through her purse trying to find it. "Ah, got it! Well first on the list is Kiba, but you already knew that. Next is Shino. What do you think about him?"

I face palmed. She knows that bugs creep me out.

"Ok then….after him is Neji."

"Seriously. I just told you I wouldn't date him because of Tenten. Next."

"Geeze Forehead, don't be too picky. The list isn't endless ya know. "

We starred each other down.

"Maybe Genma?" I won, she talked first. I pretended to pack myself on my back. Even though I'm not winning the war on my love life, at least I won that little battle.

"I thought you were trying to hook me up with guys our age. He's ten years older than we are."

"Yeah, but he's hot. And now that he's getting close to thirty, he's been thinking about settling down." Well this surprised me. Genma was an even bigger perv than Kakashi-sensei.

"And where did you get this info from? It's kind of hard to believe." Ok, so I was skeptical. I mean, it is Genma we're talking about. Though I will say, he is pretty nice to look at. Though, really all the guys in our village are. Being ninja and all, has its perks on the human body. And as a medical nin I'm one of the ones that get to admire the perks on a daily basis. Just doin' my job and helping society.

"Genma himself. Some of us went to the bbq place that Choji likes so much. He just came home from his first Anbu mission so we wanted to celebrate with him. I tried to reach you, but you ending up being on the night shift. Anyway, we all had a few drinks while we were there, and the talk got, well, real. Genma opened up some and was telling Kakashi-sensei and I how he wants to settle down. Kakashi didn't really believe him either. So, Genma told me to do my mind-transfer and I'd see the truth. Well I did, and though I didn't say it aloud, the only girl I saw in his head was you. I did notice that he still flirts with some of your staff though, but not nearly as much as he did."

"Really. Wow, that is…strange. Come to think about it, there have been less complaints coming from the nurses that do his checkups. Hmm, I guess he has picked up the banter in our conversations more, and he adds the occasional touch. Before he was all verbiage. Maybe you are right." I thought long and hard. I had a feeling that there wasn't really anyone else on her list. I weighed the pros and cons of each, and then a thought came into mind.

"Ino, if all those guys really have a thing for me, why haven't any of them come to me and asked me out. Why go to my friends instead I mean?" This truly puzzled me. I mean, when I had my thing for Sasuke I didn't go around and tell his friends about it. I march right up to him and stated it myself. Isn't that how people usually do it?

"Well, you see, they all think you're still into Sasuke, think about it. You haven't dated since after the war when he tried to stay in the village. Before he decided he just couldn't and left again. And your relationship was fairly serious with him. Can you blame them for not pursuing you?"

No, no I can't. Having Sasuke leave again, especially when we had something with each other took its toll on me. The guys were right to not chase after me. "I guess you're right. I would have said no anyway. I am over it all now though. It's really just lack of time that stops me from thinking about dating. Though, you are right, I should try. I guess I'll make time."

"Forehead, that's nice and all, but you never really answered the question."

"Ok, you're right." I sighed, I feel both excited and nervous. "I guess, umm, I guess I can go with Kiba."

"OHHHHH! I knew it! But why Kiba? What made him better than well, Genma. I can tell the others weren't really an option."

"Well, you said that Genma is ready to settle down. I just figure maybe since it's my first relationship in a while, maybe I should take it easy and slow. With Kiba I can do that."

"True, but don't forget he is going to need to pass down the clan name. His sister may be older and the head by birth, but she took her husband's name. So after a bit of dating, he'll most likely be getting pressure from his clan to move onto marriage. Just something to think about."

Crap, she has me there. "Well, I guess if that happens I'll just have to take it as I go. That is a maybe after all. With Genma it would be dating towards marriage from the start. I just can't handle that pressure yet." There, that should be enough.

"Great! I'll set it up! Kiba just got back from a long mission earlier this week. From what I know, he's got the next two months off work. Built up vacation time and what not. I'll double check though. So, when is your next day off?"

I stole a glance at the calendar that we have hanging on the wall. Of course her eyes followed mine.

"Saturday great. And Friday is a half day; I'll work on both of those."

Wait, both? "What do you mean both? I picked Kiba, I'm not going to go on a date with one of them one day and one with the other on the next day. That's rude!"

"Chill out. I just mean that you'll have a date with him on both days."

"Seriously Ino, I'm not helpless. Experienced yes, but not helpless. Just set it up for Friday and he and I will decide if we want to do anything Saturday. Ok?"

"That sounds good to me. I got it! I'll have him call you later. Well, my shift at the hospital is coming up, so see you tonight. Enjoy the rest of your day off." And with that she was out the door. I sat alone in our kitchen with two glass of cold cocoa. After all, we never even took a sip. With a sigh I headed off to the living room. Since this may be my last day all to myself, I might as well enjoy some of my favorite movies. Maybe I'll take a nap later…


	2. Chapter 2

**Bang!** "Sakura! Sakura are you home? Hello!" Ugh, I groaned. This was not a good way to wake up from a nap. Wait, a nap? I guess I did fall asleep while watching my movies after all. I took a look at my phone to check the time, 8:30. Wow, a four hour nap. I must have needed it. Wait, a text?

"Forehead, there you are! We've been trying to reach you. Why didn't you answer?"

Ah, well that explains the text. I opened my inbox and read 4 angry messages from Ino. She must have been really mad at me for not responding. "Sorry, I fell asleep while watching my movies. But who is, 'we'?" I scrolled though my inbox, oh. That's who she meant.

"Kiba of course. He was dropping off some paper work for Akamaru next door at the vet clinic. Since I ran into him, I went ahead and put my magic to work. But when I got off I saw that he said you didn't respond to his messages. I was worried that you changed your mind. I'm glad that wasn't the case though. He was so happy when I told him you wanted to go out on a date. So check your messages and get back to him. I'm gonna jump in the shower. See you in a few."

"MmmKay Ino. Later"

I yawned and stretched. After I heard the sound of the water in the shower turn on, I was satisfied enough to get up. I'll get back to Kiba after I get some water to drink.

After I got back to the couch, with my water bottle in hand, I opened back up my inbox. Looks like I have 4 messages from Kiba.

_Hey Sakura, Kiba here. Anyway, we haven't hung out in a while. Ino told me that you have an early day on Friday. I was wondering if maybe you'd want to hang out? Get back with me._

_ Oh, did I don't remember if I told you in the last text, but it's Kiba by the way._

_Ok. I'll be honest, it's not going to be the group. I just wanted you and I to hang out. So, let me know._

_ Ugh, I'll be really honest, I don't want to hang out. I want a date. Please don't make me beg anymore. It's embarrassing. –Kiba._

I couldn't help but snicker. The poor guy must have thought I was ignoring him even though Ino told him I wanted a date. Well, the young Inuzuka is definitely cute and charming. Hmm, what to say back?

_ Hey Kiba, sorry it took so long for me to get back with you. I fell asleep watching one of my favorite movies. Been really busy with work and I guess I needed the extra sleep. Anyways, Ino is right, I am free Friday afternoon. So if you want to hang out, I'm for it. Just let me know the time. ~Sakura_

I think I'll play with him a bit. Just let that message sit. I'll go make some ramen.

As I finish making my ramen I realize that my microwave reads 8:50. That should be long enough. Ten minutes is a good amount to tease a guy right? I mean, he didn't respond back, so he probably thinks I don't want the date. Time to lift his spirits!

_Hey Kiba. I forgot to tell you that I'm cool with it just being a 'you and I' thing. It'll be fun. But if you want it to be a date, you better be prepared to pay. ;-) ~Sakura_

Not even a full minute later I had a response. I knew it would get his attention.

_Sakura of course I'd be paying. I would never take you out and make you pay. But just remember, when a guy pays for the girl, that guy expects the girl to pay them back with a kiss at the end of the night. _

That little shit. I couldn't stop the goofy grin from forming on my face. I can't believe he stumped me. I decided to stir my ramen while I think.

"Sakura did you get back to Kiba?"

"Hmm, taking to him right now."

"Well, that explains your face. You look giddy. So, does this mean that I had a good idea by hooking you up with him?" Pride. Smugness. Oh Ino-pig.

"Yes Pig. I admit that I am happy right now. So, thank you. But we'll see if I still thank you come Friday."

"Well, that seems fair enough. I'm going to go out and meet up with Sai, need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good. But tomorrow if you're free I may want to go shopping. Get a new outfit for Friday or something."

She beamed. "That would be so much fun! I'm off tomorrow so sure, we can go when you get off tomorrow night. See you later."

Alone again, back to my flirting I guess.

_Well, I hate to disappoint, but the only way I give a kiss is if I have a good time. Paying for my meal just doesn't cut it for me._

_ Oh, don't worry Sakura, you'll have a good time._

_ If you say so Kiba! Lol. So, I should be off between noon and one. Meet me at the hospital? Don't worry, I promise not to go on our date in my uniform. Though, something tells me you might like that. ;-)_

_ You're right I would. (; But for this date I need you to wear something casual. We can save the role play for a later date._

_ Oh, so you're already assuming that I'll go on more than one date?_

_ Well yeah, I told you that you'll have a good time. I meant it. _

_Ok , we'll see. Well, I gotta head in early tomorrow. So, I'll see you in two days?_

_ Yes , I will see you Friday. I'll be sure to get to the hospital around 12 in case you get off early. Have a good night Sakura, and sweet dreams._

_ I look forward to it. Good night Kiba. :) _

** Back at the Inuzuka compound….**

"Kiba wipe that dumb smile off your face, I told you she wanted to go on a date with you. Did you really doubt me?" Ino and Sai were making fun of him and he knew it. Though, if he must be honest with himself, then yes, he did doubt that the beautiful and amazing Sakura Haruno wanted to go out on a date with him.

"No, of course I didn't doubt it. I am awesome after all."

Ino rolled her eyes and Sai face palmed. "Yeah, yeah. Well while my clone was at the apartment-don't worry, she didn't suspect anything- I can tell you that she was acting funny. She seemed giddy. I haven't seen her this way in, well, pretty much forever. So don't ruin the chance I gave you ok?"

"Wouldn't think of it. Thanks again Ino."

"Yup. Now, what kind of outfit does she need? She already asked me to go shopping with her tomorrow when she gets off work." Kiba looked to the side because he saw Sai pull out his wallet. It looked like he was counting how much money he had. Poor guy. Kiba hoped that if and Sakura got to boyfriend girlfriend status he wouldn't have to spend all his money on her. Then again, if it would make her happy, maybe he'd be ok with it.

"Wait, Ino, how much are you planning to spend tomorrow?" Yup, definitely worried about money. Sai was still going through his wallet as he asked.

"Oh, well not much. I am going to get myself something though. I can't just go shopping with my best friend and only shop for her. Girls don't work that way! I think one-hundred will do it though.

Sai willingly handed over the crisp bill. I guess he's happy that it wasn't more. The girl did have a tendency to overspend, though no one would ever tell her that.

Kiba took this chance to speak up, "Well, it doesn't need to be anything fancy. I told her to dress casual. I'm just taking her out to dinner, and maybe a movie. A dress would be nice though." Yeah, he thought to himself, a dress would be real nice. It's just getting to be summer, so Konoha has a light breeze, he would love to see her skirts sway in the wind. Maybe even get blown up a little bit….but he wasn't going to say any of that out loud. Just thinking about it already made him feel like he might start to blush. It was hard, but he managed to push down the thoughts without the slight shade of pink on his cheeks being noticed.

"Yeah ok, I can work with that. Well, I'll see you boys later." Ino stood up and gave Kiba a goodbye hug and Sai a simple kiss.

"Well, now that she is gone, I just want to say good luck. As part of Team 7, I can tell you that Sakura can be a lot to handle and is definitely hard to win over."

"I know. I'm just hoping I don't screw this up. After the first few dates my family will find out and then my clan. Once that happens, they'll try to push me into proposing to her. I don't want to rush anything."

"Well, as I said, good luck. See you later, I have a mission I must prepare for."

"Alright, later Sai."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter is my longest one so far! I want to give a shout out for my first Fav for this story;bloodywitch136917 as well as to my first follow of the story;YukiTora17. This chapter is for the two of you, enjoy. ;-)**

"Pig! Over here!" I waved my arms around like a mad woman, trying to get my blonde friend's attention. It worked.

"Hey Forehead! You ready to shop?" Ino smiled with glee, she was always pleased when she had the chance to spend money.

"Yes, but I'm really going to need your help. All this morning I have been feeling nervous and anxious. I brushed my teeth three times this morning because I kept forgetting that I just did it. At work after taking a patient to his room, I totally forgot about him and ended up not seeing him again until sometime after lunch when I tried to put another patient in the room. And after work, I almost forgot my way home. So, needless to say, I really really reallllyyyyy need your help."

There's that smug smile again. She knows I hate asking her for help, and that I always try to be independent. So any time I ask for help she always looks smug. But this time I did more than just ask, I practically begged! Big mistake on my part.

"Well Sakura, I would be more than happy to help." Really, that's it. Well, she must be taking my situation seriously if she isn't commenting on my begging or making me drag it out any more. "So, I asked Kiba what you were going to do on the date, in case you want to know." Ah, there it is. There is the Ino-pig that annoys the hell out of me every day, but yet still finds a way into my heart.

"Well, I do know that he said he would pay for my meal. So is there more?"

"Darn, so he told you part of the plan. Well, he has different ideas for what to do after. He said that it would all depend on if you wanted to though. Oh, and I told him you and I were going shopping today to get you an outfit."

Of course she did. If you want anyone in the village, no, the world, to know a rumor, you go to Ino. Chances are everyone will know whatever she heard within two hours. Come to think about it, maybe that's why Tsunade let told me to get off work early. Great, so now she knows.

"Here, lets walk and talk Ino. We look kind of silly just standing in front of Ichiraku Ramen, and if Naruto shows up we'll be here forever."

"That's true, I'll follow you since it is you that needs the outfit. By the way, he told me that the date would be casual."

"Mmmhhmmm. He told me too."

"Yeah, so I think you should blow him away with a sexy dress. Maybe something low cut or really short."

I stopped dead in my tracks in horror. "You cannot be serious! It's the first damn date Ino!" my hands flew to my mouth as I realized how loud I was in my little outburst. Great, now people know that I, Sakura Haruno am going on a first date with someone. Sometimes, it's not so great being well known.

"Relax, I'm just teasing. Though, I really do think you should wear a dress. A nice summer one since the season is changing. It'll sill be casual, and with the right shoes, you'll still be comfortable if you two do any walking around."

Well, that was rational thinking on her part. I never thought she would sound so wise. "You do have a point. It is a date after all. Even if it is casual, I do want to look nice. Summer dress it is! Onto the dress shop."

Three hours later we walked into our humble two bedroom apartment. I carried my bags into my room and began to unpack all my goods. Once the dress was on a hanger, I hung it on the hook off of my closet door. I didn't put it in my closet because it may cause it to wrinkle before tomorrow. I then opened the lid to the shoe box. I wanted to take another look at my shiny new purple heals. They were open toe, and the heel itself was black. In one word, they were adorable. I can't wait to wear them tomorrow. After making sure to put the shoes and my new necklace back in the shopping bag, I left my room and headed out to the living room. Everything was quiet so I guessed that Ino already headed to bed. It was going on midnight after all; I really should be in bed. My excitement of tomorrow just won't allow me to sleep though.

So, since Ino was in bed already and I had absolutely nothing to do, I sat on my couch and contemplated one thing and one thing only. Should I text him? I mean, we haven't even had our date yet. Is texting the night before the actual date against the rules? I mean, we're already friends but maybe since we're going on a date tomorrow, it would make me seem clingy already.

After about thirty minutes I came to my conclusion. As I picked up my phone from the couch cushion next to me, it buzzed. I jumped a little and let out a yelp, I really wasn't expecting it. I smiled as I read the name; looks like my question got answered after all.

_Hey Sakura, sorry if I wake you. Looking forward to tomorrow, sweet dreams. –Kiba_

_ Actually, it's perfect timing. I was just headed to bed. Thanks for the sweet dream wishes, I'm looking forward to tomorrow too. Goodnight. :) _

I hope that's good enough. As much as I want to talk to him right now, I really need to go to bed. After getting his message, my nervousness became calmer, because I realized that he is nervous too. I looked at the time on my phone, one am, yup, definitely time for bed. After reaching my room and tucking myself into my warm covers I let sleep envelop me. The only thought on my mind is how wonderful tomorrow would be.

Work went by quickly and uneventfully. We were slow, thank goodness. It meant that my friends and fellow shinobi were able to make it back from their missions safely. After finishing my paperwork a little earlier than expected I decided to go ahead and get ready for my date. So now I find myself in the studio apartment connected to my office. Whoever thought of this feature was simply brilliant. I didn't really spend many nights here since Ino and I had our two bedroom apartment, but if I needed a break for a nap or just to relax, it's always good to know that I have my little studio. Today, this little place is going to help me pretty myself up. Once I was in, I locked the door and headed over to my bathroom. Since I finished at eleven, I decided to take a shower before getting ready.

Fifteen minutes later I hopped on out and decided to go ahead and tell Kiba to meet me at twelve thirty instead of noon, I could use the extra time to blow dry my hair, and for any last minute primping I may need.

_Hey, sorry if you're already on your way, but can you wait to meet me until twelve thirty? I don't think I'll be ready before then._

While waiting for his response, I decided to go ahead and begin my make-up process. I'm not one that usually wears it, but for this I can make an exception. I've been blessed with a perfect creamy completion, so really I need is a little blush, eye shadow, eye liner and mascara. When it came time to do my shadow I took a glance at my dress, and took in the purple, green and blue shades. Purple it is, out of the three, it'll differently bring out my eye color best.

Make-up complete. I was quite pleased with myself, considering I never wear the stuff; I'm surprisingly good at putting it on. Hair time! This is the simplest thing to do. I plugged in my hair dryer and flipped my head upside down. Once I was satisfied I ran my flatiron though it, just to make it shine a little more. My phone buzzed as I sat down the straighter.

_Hey, just wanted to let you know that I'm on my way now. I'll be there in about 15. No need to rush though if you're not ready._

After checking the time I noticed that he was going to be arriving right at the time I asked him to. Punctual. I like that. No, love it. Ever since I first became a part of Team 7 and had to deal with a certain silver headed jonin, I quickly began to hate tardiness. Kiba being punctual just added points in his favor.

_Alrighty, I should be ready by then. See you soon. :)_

Once satisfied that my text was delivered I began putting on my dress, heals and new necklace. I brushed my teeth and put my uniform in the clothes hamper. One final look in the mirror and it was time to go. I will say though, I was pleased with what I saw; I could only hope Kiba would be too.

"Hey Ino, is Sakura still up in her office?" Said blonde looked up from her desk at me. It was her week as receptionist, so she was the first one that saw me when I walked into the building.

A soft smile played on her lips. "Um, yeah Kiba she is. So, are those flowers for her then?"

I felt a warmth work its way up onto my checks and I began to scratch the back of my head with my free hand. "Uh, yeah. I just, well, I thought I should bring her something since it is the first date and all. I almost bought her a bracelet, but thought that it would be too soon for jewelry. So, lilies it is. Heheh." I mentally face palmed myself for my odd behavior. I let my nervousness show to her best friend. Great, I hope word doesn't get back to her. Then again, maybe it would work in my favor if it did…

"Well, I do know she finished all of her work for the day, if you want you can go ahead and go to her office. The door should be unlocked. Don't worry about walking in on her or anything, there is an apartment attached to her office."

"Alright, gotcha." I began to head to the direction she pointed, but stopped before I turned down the hallway. "Hey Ino," She looked up at me from her paperwork again, "Thanks again, for this I mean." And with that I went down the hallway, it's now or never.

Once I reached the door at the end, I looked up at the door. Sure enough, it was her office. One deep breath, I knocked and heard her voice. "Come in." I brushed out doubt out of my mind as I opened the door. Sakura was turned around messing with something on her desk so she didn't know it was me.

"Hey, I hope it's not anything that will take too long. It's my half day and I kinda have plans…" Her sentence trailed off as she turned around and saw that I was the one that had knocked. I would like to think that I saw her cheeks turn a fine shade of pink, but it is possible that I imagined it. She looked marvelous. Her hair was down, it had grown a bit the last few years, about three inches down from her shoulder. She still had some layers in it, I liked it. When she smiled I couldn't stop the one that found its way to my face.

"Well, I hope I'm not interrupting whatever plans you have for today. But I just gotta say, if you have a date with someone, he must be one lucky guy. You look beautiful." As I walked closer to her, she glanced away, this time there was a definite blush on her cheeks. Good, that meant that she was pleased with my compliment. I stole another glance at her while she was looking away, this time to get a better look at her outfit. She wore a strapless summer dress, it was tight up top and flowed down to about three inches above her knees. The top was green, and as the flow began it faded into a blue, and then ended in purple. I liked it. Her shoes matched the purple in her dress. Once I reached her I held out the flowers, "Here I got these for you. I figured since you're at work all the time, you might like these to make it more homey." For the first time since I entered the room, she looked me dead on in the eyes. It was then that I noticed the matching purple eye shadow that she expertly applied. I wasn't expecting make-up. But I was glad she wore it, even if she didn't need it. It only showed me that she was serious about this date, she wanted to look good for me.

"Thanks, they're beautiful. I like the vase too, this was very thoughtful." She gently took them out of my hand and brought them up to her face to smell. Once she was satisfied with the sent, she set them down on her desk, right next to the window. "So, what's first?"

"Well, I think the first thing we should do is leave your work. I can't have them steal you from me before the date has even begun. Once we're out of here I figured we'd go grab some lunch at the new Italian restaurant. Does that sound alright to you?"

"Yeah, that sounds great. Lead the way." She playfully pushed me out of her office, locking the door behind her. There were a couple of people in the hall that seemed surprised to see me leaving the office of the beautiful Sakura Haruno. Everyone knows she has been off the map since Sasuke, I'm the first guy she's been with since. That thought gave me more pressure, I really shouldn't think too much.

"Kiba, you ready? You've been standing there for a few minutes…" I examined her face, her eyebrows were scrunched together, she looked puzzled by my actions.

"Well, as stated before I will pay for your dinner, even though you won't pay me back with a goodnight kiss. However, if you'd be so kind?" I stuck out my hand, hoping that she would take it. It would pretty much suck if she didn't; after all, everyone in the hallway was pretty much staring at us by this point.

I looked down at the hand he offered. At this point I knew people were looking. I knew that they were going to be talking about this later no matter what I did. But I promised myself that today would be great. So, with a smile and some blushing on my end, I took his hand. It felt warm, and I liked the way my fingers fit in between his. They had a roughness to them, oddly enough I liked that. Soon after our hands linked I looked up and smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Alright Kiba, I believe I said lead the way."

"You got it."

We walked in comfortable silence down the hallway, acting as if no one was staring at us. Once we reached the front of the hospital I noticed Ino looking at me. When Kiba opened the door I stole a look back at my best friend. She winked, of course she winked. The smug little shit. I bet she's the one that sent him to my office too. Now that I think about it, depending on how today goes, she may be getting a big thanks later.

On the way to the new Italian restaurant we traded some clever banter with one another. This is something that I missed. Though, Sasuke didn't really speak much. No, I cannot think about him. He's gone, I'm done with him. This time for real. I will have a good time, maybe even great. When we got to our destination he held the door open for me, the hostess greeted us and led us to the back of the restaurant in a booth separate from the others. We ordered our drinks and she left the menus and walked away.

"This place is beautiful, I'm glad you took me here."

"Yeah, well I wanted this date to go smoothly. I am aiming for the goodnight kiss after all." He winked at me and then grinned. It was adorable.

"I thought you said it was supposed to be a casual date? Why the privacy from everyone else?" The hostess re-appeared and deposited our drinks, promising that our waitress would be with us soon. Kiba pulled his drink to his mouth and drank some of it. For the first time tonight I examined him. Don't get me wrong, I looked at him plenty earlier, but I didn't want to get caught looking. Right now he was looking though the menu, so, I took the opportunity. His shirt was a black button down, long sleeves. Must have been hot for him to wear, then again he usually has a jacket on so maybe not. I remember that he had on dark blue jeans, it was casual. So I guess he did want it to be a casual date after all. I saw him glance up at me so I quickly finished my assessment of him and pretended to look at my menu. Truth was, I already knew what I wanted to eat. Shrimp Scampi, one of my favorites.

"The date is casual, I just wanted us to have as little interruptions as possible. Since this place is new, I wasn't sure if anyone we knew would try it out." I saw doubt cross in his face, I didn't like it. I didn't want him to think I wasn't having a good time. I was, and I felt he needed to know.

"I like it, that was thoughtful of you. That's the third time you've surprised me tonight." He beamed at the praise and I took a sip of my drink.

"So, I've surprised you then? Have the three surprised been in my favor?"

The confident Kiba was back. I smilled at him and batted my eyelashes a little before answering. I hoped it looked cute. "Actually yes. The flowers and private booth were both thoughtful of you and I definitely wasn't expecting either of them." I stopped, I really didn't want him to know that I liked when he held my hand. I mean, I did, but it just made me feel embarrassed when I thought about saying it out loud.

"I only counted two, what was the third?" Of course he was paying attention and hanging on every word I was saying. Though, why am I complaining? In my past relationship the guy didn't usually pay this close attention to me, he was more caught up in his vengeance.

"Well, perhaps I, um, maybe I kind of liked holding your hand earlier when we left the hospital." There, I had it out and in the open. Maybe this date wasn't going to work out after all. How can it if I make a full out of myself?

I looked down at the table expecting laughter to come from the Inuzuka, what came instead wasn't expected in the least. I felt his hand on mine. I looked up and he was smiling at me. "Sakura, you don't have to be so shy you know. We were friends before today, we didn't just meet and this isn't a blind date. I liked holding your hand too." His gave my hand a quick squeeze and I blushed some more. I had a feeling today would be great indeed.

We were walking up to the door of my apartment. The date had gone by great, to me anyway. I hope he thought the same thing. As friends we already knew a good deal about each other, but you can always learn more about a person. So, we were sharing memories of our childhood before the academy, as well as reminiscing our shared memories. After the restaurant we went to the Hokage Monument and watched the children of the village play until the sun went down. Peace is a great thing. We were so caught up in our conversations that we didn't even think about time until we realized the moon was high up in the sky; it seemed to be about nine, maybe even later.

"So, we're here." He said, smiling down at me. He took his free hand to grab my other one. That's another thing I liked, he held my hand all night, and when the chance provided itself, he would hold both.

I smiled back, "Yeah, looks like it." Silence. I don't know how long we stood there just smiling at each other. He looked like he was about to say something, but I cut him off with a kiss. I'm not going to lie, I was shy after and looked away, "I had a good time Kiba, thanks." I went in to give him a hug before he could reply. I may have had some confidence, but I was still worried that he may not have had as much fun as I did. When I began to pull away to go inside, he kissed my forehead and hugged me tighter.

"Sakura, I had a good time too. But, I thought you said paying for your dinner wouldn't get me a kiss." I looked up and he was smirking down at me. It was a smirk that radiated nothing but his boyish charm.

"Well, I meant what I said. So maybe you should assume that you earned it tonight." I kissed him on the cheek before opening my door. "Goodnight Kiba."

His cheeks had a red flush to them when I looked back and smiled before closing the door. "Goodnight Sakura."

**Click.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Shout out to my second and third story followers;curtislive and Fantasy and Anime. Hope y'all continue to enjoy the story. I don't know how often I'll update, but I thank everyone for taking the time out of their day to red. Enjoy. :-)**

I stood in the entryway for a good while, with my back against the door. Ino walked in right as I touched my lips.

"Oh my, you kissed him didn't you? You kissed Kiba! Ahhh, spill it, spill all of it this instant!" Said blonde, squealed and pulled me to the living room to sit on our couch. I swear she was jumping up and down with anticipation.

When I finished telling her my story, I could see questions in her eyes. Apparently hearing what I voluntarily shared wasn't good enough and she wanted more details, great.

"So, how was it? Is he like a good kisser?"

Oh please let this be the only embarrassing question she has. Please oh please let her be pleased with the answer I give and leave it at that. "Well, I mean, it was just the one real kiss, and it was nice. I wouldn't mind doing it again." I felt heat crawl up my neck and onto my face, damn my light complexion.

"Well then are you two going to go out again?"

I frowned at this, "Well, I don't know. I mean, we both said that we had a good time. But he didn't make a move to make any more plans." Doubt and dread filled me, what if he just said he had a good time so that I wouldn't feel bad?

"Don't worry, that's normal after a first date. Usually the guy will wait to make plans. It's a good thing you didn't try to, it would make you seem clingy. Well, I'm glad you had a good time, but I got tired waiting up for you so I'm headed to bed. Night."

"Yeah, you're right. I don't know what I was worried about. Good night." I made my way to my room as she made her way to hers. When I turned on my light I noticed that there was a note taped to my window. _Training tomorrow morning at 7, the usual spot. –Kakashi_

So much for sleeping in on my day off, then again it is Kakashi I'm meeting with. He may say seven, but really he means eight. I set the paper on my night stand and quietly went to the bathroom o brush my teeth. Once back in my room, I promptly changed into my ninja gear and laid on my bed. I was out later that I had originally thought and talked to Ino for a good while too. As is I was only going to get about 4 hours of sleep. In needed as much sleep as I could get, my ninja clothes were clean anyway.

Before I knew it the time was seven. I pulled myself out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make myself a piece of toast and grab a cup of orange juice. After quickly brushing my teeth, I hurried out of our apartment and made way to the farthest training ground. I had fifteen minutes to get there before Kakashi did. Sure enough, I made it. One of the perks of being a shinobi was travel by room and trees. It certainly saved time when you needed it.

I headed over to the tree we always meet under, but when I looked up Kakashi was already there. "You're late."

But of course, the one time in history that the man shows up is the one time I decide to take advantage of his usually tardiness. "Well, usually you always how up an hour after the time you tell us to show up. I just tried to take advantage of that today, I was out late last night. Wait, where is Naruto and Sai?" I looked around but didn't see them anywhere, that was odd.

"Sai is out on a mission and Naruto is busy with his paperwork. His wife wouldn't let him come out and play until he finished." He snickered at his sentence, I have to give it to him though, the picture that he painted was worth laughing at. Hinata has always been gentile and calm. She is a sweet and caring woman, but somehow manages to crack the whip on Naruto when he tries to put off his duties. She turned out to be better for him than anyone had originally thought.

"I see, so it's one on one training then. Are you going to use your sharingon, Kakashi-sensei?" It wouldn't bother me if he did. Sure it may give him the advantage, but that will only make me train harder which in the end will help me improve some.

"But of course. We are on equal ground now and if I don't use it, you might just manage to kill me. Oh and Sakura, cut off the sensei. I finally got Naruto to stop last month, I don't need you doing it. I haven't been your sensei for a couple of years now. Like I said, we are equal."

This conversation again. I don't know what the man's problem is. The fact that I still call him sensei should show him that I still respect him as such. True, he hasn't technically been my sensei these last few years, but I guess old habits die hard.

"Okay then, Ka-ka-shi. I'll be sure to grant the wishes of an 'older man' and stop calling you sensei so that you feel younger." I smirked my best smart ass smirk. He simply rolled his one visible eye as he pulled up his leaf headband so his sharingon became visible. Next thing I knew he was behind me.

"Let the training begin, Sa-ku-ra." And then he was gone.

We were both out of breath and panting heavily under our tree. I looked to my left and smiled at my comrade. Kakashi of course gave his trade mark eye crinkle smile and moved his headband over his sharingon. "So, is it true that you and Kiba are a thing now?" Well, that caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting anyone to say anything to me about it yet, except for Ino. But I really wasn't expecting Kakashi to bring it up if someone were to spread the word of last night around. "I mean, I think its good and all. It's been a while since I've seen you with anyone." Awkwardness. Kakashi was never good at personal talk, and it surprised me that he was trying to start it now.

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're together exactly. I mean, we just went on one date last night." I tried to shrug and seem nonchalant like it wasn't a big deal. The truth is, I haven't felt this alive since Sasuke was around. I wasn't depressed by any means, but I guess I was lonely, even though I had my friends and my team.

"Oh, I see." Silence. Usually silence was comfortable between us, but not this time. This is possibly the first awkward silence we've had in the history of our friendship. Friendship? I guess Kakashi was a friend. He did tell me that we were equals after all, and asked me to drop the honorific.

"Kakashi, are we friends?"

"Why would you ask that?" He was staring me head on now. Curiosity in the one gray orb I could see.

"Well, we don't really hang out. I mean, we train, but that's kind of different. I hang out with some of the other guys but never just you. And when you do come with us somewhere, you always leave early. I guess I was just curious if you counted me as a friend."

He allowed some time to pass before as he thought of whatever answer he wanted to give me. I was growing more discomfort by the second as the silence between us thickened. "Do I annoy you in a way that only a friend can?"

I looked at him; clearly he must be able to tell how much his question puzzled me. "Just answer my questions and you will find the answer to yours."

"Ok, then yes, your tardiness annoys me but I expect it from you. I also get annoyed at that damn mask. I've known you for six years and don't even know what you look like."

He smiled at that, and even though I couldn't see his face I knew it was one of smugness. "Alrighty, do you like when we train together?"

"Yes again."

"Do you find yourself wanting to hang out with me more?"

"I'm not going to answer that. You're smart enough to know the answer from one of my earlier statements." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he just shook his head.

"Well then, yes. We are friends. I annoy you in a way only a friend could while still having you like being around me. So, if you want to hang out more, I guess I can put forth the effort."

**Buzz**

My phone. I didn't want to stop my talk with Kakashi, but what if it was Kiba? "Go ahead and check your phone Sakura, I don't mind."

I gave him a sorry smile and opened up my inbox.

_Sakura, if you're off today do you want to meet at Ichiraku? Hinata already told me that Naruto won't be there…something about needing to finish his paperwork. So that'll pretty much guarantee not running into anyone._

I sighed. Just when I was about to try to make plans to hang out with Kakashi, I get the message I had been hoping for.

"What's wrong? Everything ok?"

If there was one main thing to like about Hatake Kakashi, I would say it was his always calm demeanor. I offered him a smile, "Yeah, everything is good. It was just Kiba."

"I see, and what did the young Inuzuka want?" The way he held his body seemed like he could care less, but I felt like there was something in the tone of voice he used. Maybe he was looking forward to hanging out with me more too?

"Well, he wanted to see if I want to meet him for lunch."

"You sure it was just the one date?"

"I never said it was just that one date! I said that we weren't a thing. It hasn't been official. We went on a date, and I'm going to see where it goes from there." Yup, his comment irritated me. He wasn't my parent. It's not his job to keep track of my love life.

"Relax. I didn't mean anything about it, I was just curious. If you want to go, then go ahead. I won't mind. I need to pay Naruto a visit anyway. He asked me to meet him this afternoon for a mission." And now I felt bad.

"Sorry for being rude. I over reacted. I know you didn't mean anything by it. Do you know anything about the mission?"

"I think he said I'd be gone for a couple of weeks. I was planning on meeting with him after training today anyway. I also need to pack. So if you want to go meet up with Kiba it really is ok. I already had my day planned out anyway."

Something seemed off, but I trusted his words. "Alright Kakashi, just make sure to say bye before you leave."

He gave me mock solute before he poofed out.

_Hey, sure I just finished up training with Kakashi. Let me just clean up and I can meet you there in about an hour._

_ Gotcha, sounds good. See you then._


	5. Chapter 5

"Thanks for coming. I wanted to get out with you before I left."

"Sure no problem, you have a mission coming up or something?"

"Yeah, I leave tonight. It looks like I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks. Depends on how long the mission takes. I just wanted to get to see you again before hand." That made me smile. And I couldn't stop the sentence from escaping my lips.

"What? Was last night so wonderful that you needed to get your fix and see me before you go?" I winked at him. And I stuck his tongue out.

"So what if it was?" He leaned closer to me, so that our shoulders brushed against each other. "Maybe that's not the only reason though."

"Well then Kiba, what would the reason be?"

I turned back towards my food and took a sip of my drink, I felt him lean even closer. I could feel his breath on my ear. "Maybe I want everyone in town to see us together again so that none of the other guys ask you out while I'm gone." I almost chocked on my drink, I really wasn't expecting that kind of response.

I looked back over at him, curiosity in my eyes, and interest in his. "And why would it bother you if other guys asked me out?"

I saw a flash of anger in his chocolate orbs before he responded to my question, "Because I want to stay ahead of the game. You see, I can't have some other guy come by and swipe you off your feet before we ever really become anything. I want more chances to woo you." I felt his hand brush against mine, "And Sakura, I don't know if you've noticed, but you're very pretty. I know that I'm not technically your boyfriend, since we've only been on the one date, but I'd like to go out more when I get back so that I could be. So while I can't really be mad if you go on any dates while I'm gone, I'm not going to lie and say it wouldn't bother me."

I didn't know what to say to him right then. There was nothing but pure honestly in his statement and his face held the emotion. It was then that I decided I'd like to be his girlfriend too. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. When I pulled away I made sure to give him my best reassuring smile, "Don't worry Kiba. Since you'll be paying for my meal today, I don't mind waiting for you." Then I winked at him. "I'm kidding, but seriously. Don't worry about it. No one else has caught my eye. And..Wait, wait a dang minute. Ino told me that you had some time off of missions. What's going on?"

"I wish, I technically am supposed to be off. The problem is we don't have enough tracking ninjas. Since Hinata helps Naruto out with his Hokage stuff she hardly ever leaves the village any more, not that Naruto wants her to since they're dating and all. Then that really just leaves Kakashi, Shino, Neji and I for tracking missions. We're supposed to track a princess that ran away from some land. They say it should take two or three weeks, but with the four of us, plus Akamaru and Kakashi's ninja hounds, I really doubt it will take that long." He then stood up and pulled out his money, I followed suit. "No Sakura, I want to pay. Don't protest, I know you said you were kidding, but I was planning on paying for you anyway."

While Kiba was paying I looked over his shoulder and saw Ayame smiling at me. After Kiba was done and grabbed my hand to leave she called to me, "Hey Sakura, he seems like a good guy. I think you should keep this one around." Then she ducked into the back of the shop. I was so embarrassed. Kiba didn't seem to mind though; in fact his reaction was quite the opposite. He squeezed my hand tighter and led me out of the stand.

We walked the streets of Konoha hand in hand, all afternoon. Just talking, and stopping at the occasional shop. But even though we spent most of the day together, it still seemed to come to an end too soon.

"When do you leave for your mission again?"

"Tonight at about two is the plan. I'm going to go home and finish preparing before I sleep."

I looked down at my feet, then glands to our hands. Never once this afternoon did we let go. "I guess I won't be able to see you before you leave then."

"I don't think so. But that's why I wanted to spend the day with you. I figured you'd have to work tomorrow, so I didn't want to wake you up in the middle of the night just to say goodbye when I knew that I could spend the day with you instead."

I smiled up at him, "That's true. I guess you made the better choice. Tomorrow I have to go in earlier than I normally would." I stepped up and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you wanted to spend the day with me before you had to go. And if you send word back of your arrival early enough, I'll be able to get the day that you come back off. Just a thought."

He looked down into my eyes, "Sakura I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Can I kiss you?"

I didn't hesitate this time; I rose up on my toes and moved my hands up to his neck to pull him down to me. My lips met his and I didn't want it to end. He brushed is tongue against my bottom lip, begging for access, I complied by opening up to him. The kiss was wonderful, powerful and magical. It held emotion in every movement of it. I didn't want it to end, but knowing it had to, I slowly pulled away. My eyes were still shut and I smiled when I felt his lips gently press against my forehead. His breath was warm on my skin as he spoke, "Thanks for going out with me yesterday and today. I've had the biggest crush on you pretty much forever now. I look forward to seeing you when I come back home. Take care of yourself." Another peck on the lips and he was gone.

As per my usual ritual when I return home, I went straight to my living room couch. Ino was still working at the hospital. I had some thinking to do, so that was probably for the best. I have a feeling that I'm falling for Kiba too fast. But I don't want to become so dependent on him like I did with Sasuke. If I did, and we broke up, I'd be right back to where I was those many years ago when he first left the village, then again the second time. But I definitely care about Kiba. More than I thought I would after two dates. He was polite, caring, charming, smart ass, funny, and showed me that he could be sensitive. I also loved how he opened doors for me and held my hand while we were together, no matter who may have been watching. Even though we weren't anything official, he seemed to be giving this thing his all. I plan to do the same, but with a guarded heart. After the heartbreak I've gone through, I need to be cautious. Once I figured that all my thoughts were sorted out, I went ahead and prepared for bed. When I went to turn on the light on my bedside table, my hand bumped into something.

A vase of sakura blossoms. They had just begun to bloom too, they were beautiful. I wonder how Kiba found out they were my favorite. Not only that, how did he get them here when he was with me all day? Unless, he did it while I was training with Kakashi this morning, that's got to be it. It seems he really was determined to not have me forget him while he was gone. I searched around the plant for a note, but there was none, how odd. I sat down on my bed, wondering why he wouldn't write a note. When I heard a paper crinkle, I looked to my left side and saw that I was sitting on a folder piece of paper; guess there was a note after all.

_Sakura,_

_ Some girl delivered these for you, and said it was anonymous. When I asked her if she knew who it was she said yes. So I went ahead and asked if they were from Kiba, but she said no. What's going on Forehead? You don't have two guys do you?_

_ ~Ino_

So, not from Kiba. I felt a headache begin in the front of my head as I tried to think about who may have ordered these for me. Even without her writing it in the note, I knew they must not have been from her family's shop. If they were, she would have just called them up and asked. The only person I know besides Kiba that has a thing for me is Lee, but he would have proudly written his name on it. Then again, Ino did say something about Genma having a thing for me.

I got pulled out of my thoughts as my phone buzzed.

Kakashi. How odd, he usually doesn't text me, then again, I've never seen the man use his phone. I opened it up.

_Hey, if you're home let me know. You said to stop by before leaving and we're leaving pretty late tonight. I know on Sundays you have a habit of going in early, so I don't want to wake you._

_ Yeah, I'm home. Ino is working late tonight, so you can use the door without worrying about running into her. Though, I know you'll just use the window anyway. See you soon. _

_ You're right. You could put a padlock on the window as well as board it up. The door can even be wide open, but I would still find a way to get in through the window. I'm headed your way now. Be there in five._

I went ahead and cracked my window open for him. I have no doubt that he could get in with it locked, but I figured I'd be nice. In no time at all he was standing in front of me.

"I thought you said five minutes, you made it here in about three. And you were on time this morning. Kakashi, have you set all your clocks forward so that you're never late again?" Yeah, I teased him for being punctual. That's two times in one day. It also makes it two times in all the time that I have known him that he has been on time for anything, well, besides saving our asses during battle. He was always pretty punctual when it came to that.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Maybe I just wanted to see my favorite student and see how her date with lover boy went today." He used his amused tone, he was trying to get a rise out of me and knew that this was the best possible way.

"You're pretty funny yourself. But I thought I wasn't your student anymore." I stuck my tongue out and quickly had it back in my mouth. He reached out like he was going to grab it, couldn't have that. "It wasn't supposed to be a date, but I suppose that by the end to the night it did become one. And he's not lover boy or a boyfriend even. We're just two friends that enjoy each other's company and want to see if it can become more than friendship, that's all." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. I looked like I was being defensive, but I didn't care.

"I know I'm just picking on you. It's always been so easy pressing your buttons." He gently tapped my shoulder and I slightly shoved him back. "So then, you want to be his girlfriend."

A statement, not a question. So since he already knew my answer I decided not to say anything.

"In that case, I just want you to know that this mission isn't anything major, just tracking. They aren't expecting us to do any combat. And even if it comes to that, the four of us plus the hounds are more than capable of protecting ourselves. You have nothing to worry about."

He was right and I knew it. "Kakashi, you be sure to stay safe too though. He's not the only one I worry about. Your last few missions haven't gone so well, don't give me that look you know that I am right. I'm always the one that you see when you get back, even if I'm not at the hospital you always come here. So I know what kind of shape you're in and if you abuse your sharingon. Speaking of which, I need you to move your headband so I can fix up your eye, you used it during training this morning. I want you leaving at your best."

He was about to argue, but held his tongue and took off the headband. Smart man. "Thanks Sakura." A few moments of silence passed and when I finished he began to pull his headband back down. He stopped when it looked like something caught his eye, "Where did those come from?"

The flowers, he noticed them. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know." This seemed to puzzle him, he scratched the back of his head and looked back at the flowers on my nightstand.

"Don't get me wrong, but that doesn't really make sense. How do you not know?"

"Well, they weren't here after training when I came home to change before meeting up with Kiba. And there was also no note left with them. Here, look at this." I handed him the note Ino left, and he scanned over it quickly.

"That is odd, any ideas then if it's not from him?"

I really didn't want to answer that question. I almost didn't, but then I remember how trustworthy Kakashi is and how you can say anything to him and just know that he'll take it to the grave. "Well, only two come to mind…"

"Really now, and who would they be?"

"Well, Lee was my first thought. But soon after I thought about him, I realized that he would have gladly left a card with his name and some sort of promise of his love. So that immediately scratched him off the list..."

"I see, and the other?"

"Well, this is a bit of a long shot seeing as its information from Ino and she's the biggest gossip we know of. But earlier this week she told me that Genma had a thing for me. I know, I don't really believe it either, but it might explain why there is no note left."

Nothing. He said nothing.

"Why so quiet? Wait, I know why, Ino told me that you were with her when she talked to Genma. So I'm guessing it's true after all."

"Yeah, maybe. I mean, I was there when he told us. I just didn't think he would leave these when everyone in town has been seeing you with Kiba these past two days."

"That's a good point, it is kind of odd. But wait, how would he know that those are my favorite? I haven't really told anyone."

"Maybe he just assumed since you are named after them." He kind of shrugged at the end of the sentence, he usually slouched some, but it seemed like his shoulders were lower this time. He seemed tired all of the sudden.

"Kakashi, you should head home. You seem kind of tired."

He stopped looking at the flowers and looked back at me, giving his trade mark, mask-covered grin. "Yeah, you're right Sakura. I really should get some sleep before leaving in," He flipped open his phone, "Three hours. Well, when I get back let me know if you are able to confirm that the flowers are from him."

"You make it seem like they're not. We both confirmed that the chances they are from Lee are close to none. Who else could it be then?"

"Well, ummm." He seemed nervous all of the sudden, but I don't understand why. "I overheard Neji talking to Naruto the other day. So maybe they are from him. Yeah, that's it." He made his way over to my window and perched in the frame, one leg hanging out while the other balanced on the wood surface.

I slapped my forehead, "Oh that's right! I totally forgot that Ino told me about that problem. He really needs to get back with Tenten. Even if he is into me, I would still say no. Tenten has been in love with him since we were all genin. I could never do that to her."

"Well, guess you have some mysteries to solve while I'm gone. Have fun." And with that he jumped out the window. By the time I looked out of it, he was nowhere in sight. I shut and locked my window before making my way back to bed. I need to get up at five to get to work early. I lay down, and without any thought or effort, I fell right to sleep.

I dreamed of when he would return.


	6. Chapter 6

It's been three days since I last saw Kiba. I found myself missing him more and more each day. Today Naruto called me into his office to let me know that the team made it safely to their destination and have officially begun their mission. Based on the information they gathered so far about the targets they will be tracking, they are expecting to be back in two to three weeks instead of three to four. I was pleased of the news. I almost texted Kiba a few times, but then I remembered that while on missions all shinobi leave their phones at home. You didn't want to get distracted in our line of duty.

Ino and I are having a girls day of pure laziness, one of our favorite past times. "Ok Sakura, I picked up the chocolate, popcorn, chips and soda last night. Did you call Ichiraku for the delivery?"

"Yup, it's been taken care of. The only thing we need to do now is find something interesting to watch on TV." I picked up the remote and began checking our DVR for any recordings we may have.

"Hold up, we haven't gotten a chance to really talk since your first date with Kiba. And that was last week! You gotta catch me up!"

"Ok, well um, what do you want to know?" I grabbed two sodas from our fridge and handed one over to her while she thought of her first question. While she took her time thinking, I decided to go ahead and make the first bag of popcorn.

"Oh I know, you said he was a good kisser, but it was just a normal kiss. So, did you like, make out with him yet?"

I felt myself become flushed, "Well yeah, sort of I mean. Saturday we decided to get together after my training with Kakashi. They both left for a mission later that night. Kiba said he wanted to see me before he had to go. And anyway, when he took me home, we well, yeah we kind of made out. But we weren't all handsy or anything like that."

**Beep.**

"Popcorns done, can you grab the chips and we can make our way to the couch?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing. Anyway, my next question is how was it? Was he any good? I bet he was, I hear that a lot of the people from his clan are good at that stuff, animal instincts and such." Ugh, I wanted to slap her when she winked at me. As my best friend, she knows exactly what it takes to make me blush, and she tends to take full advantage of it.

"First, that is two questions. But the answer is the same, yes, oh my yes. He was amazing." At this point we both plopped down on our couch and giggled like little school girls. Once we finally quieted down, the atmosphere got serious.

"Do you, miss him?"

"Yes."

"When I hooked you two up, did you think you would find yourself missing him after just two dates?"

"Not in the slightest." I sighed. "Ino, I know I don't love him, but I believe that if thinks keep going as they are, there is a very real possibility that I may someday."

"That's great, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah I know, except that it scares the shit out of me. What if the same thing that happens between Sasuke and I repeats itself with Kiba and I? I don't think I can handle that kind of heart break again."

"Relax, nothing of the sort will happen. Sasuke was already a missing-nin by the time he confessed to you. But even when he tried to come back to the Leaf under supervision, he still wasn't completely here. Everyone could tell that he still hated everything about this place. The memories were too much for him, he was already too far gone by the time he tried to love you."

"Yeah I know, but what if I"

"No, stop. Stop right there. None of what happened to Sasuke is any of our fault, you and Naruto need to stop beating yourselves up about it. There truly was nothing that we could have done differently. And besides, this is all the past now, you just need to worry about the present and the future."

"You're right, I know. I'm just nervous."

"Well you have no reason to feel that way. I wouldn't have suggested Kiba as a first day if I thought it was a bad idea. Did you forget that I've been with you and picked you up time and time again after Sasuke broke your heart? You were with Sasuke for about a year, and sure you seemed happy, but I could tell you really weren't. I don't know what he did, and you don't have to tell me if you're not ready, but I know he did something. You were always so much quieter when he was around, but if you were alone, you were the life of the party… so to speak of course. Kiba is stable. Kiba is dependable. Kiba is kind, caring, courteous, funny and responsible. You don't need to worry about him, you're in good hands. Trust me on this."  
"I know, I know."

**Ding-Dong.**

****"That must be the food. Don't worry Sakura, I'll get it." While Ino was gone I thought through everything she had said. She was right, and I knew she was right. She had logic and facts on her side.

"Here, this one is yours."

"Thanks."

"So, did you think about what I said while I was gone?"

"Of course Pig, you know me too well." I opened the lid off my little to-go bowl so that the ramen could cool down some.

"Alright then, what have you decided?"

"You're never letting this go are you?"

"Of course not, I wouldn't be me if I did."

"True. Well, I can't argue with facts. I've only gone on two dates with the guy and he has already treated me better than Sasuke ever did in that whole year that we were together. Falling for him wouldn't be so bad. It would probably do me some good if I did. He is a great guy, and he has his shoulders on his head. So, I'm happy where I'm at."

"Glad to hear it! Oh, so those flowers. Did you get my note about them?"

"Yes, and it was kind of odd. I'm guessing they didn't get ordered from your shop? I figured if they did you would have called in to see who they were from since no note was included."

"You mean, they really weren't from Kiba?"

"Not that I know of. I mean, he brought me flowers the day before, do you really think he would do it twice?"

"No, I don't. That would be odd. Well then, if we go by word of the grapevine, that would leave our suspects at Neji, Lee and Genma."

"I know, and I already crossed off Lee. If it was him, he would have signed his name and pronounced his love and promised his life and soul to me or something."

"That's true. Well then Forehead, it's gotta be Neji or Genma."

"Kakashi seems to think that they came from Neji."

"Really now? And what would Kakashi-_sensei _know about it? Hmm?"

"Oh, he and Kiba are on the same mission. So I told him to stop by before leaving. He saw the flowers and helped me come to the conclusion of where they came from, he suggested Neji as he climbed out the window. Though, he did admit that it could have been Genma."

"You sure they aren't from him?" I didn't really get the 'him' of which she was referring to. At this point, there were simply too many 'hims'.

"Who do you mean by 'him'?"

"Kakashi-sensei of course. Don't think I didn't notice the drop on the honorific."

We had a stare down before the laughter fits began. I swear, it was a good five minutes before we could calm down.

"Man Ino, that was funny. There's no chance they could be from Kakashi. In all the years we've known him, he has never had a woman by his side. We all know he is straight though because of those damn Icha Icha series he reads. But no female has ever caught his eye."

"Yeah I know, but what a good laugh that was! I can't picture Kakashi-sensei buying with any female, though it would be easier to imagine it if we knew what the man looked like."

"That's true. Naruto and I still have bets on what he is hiding under there. Sai has thrown in a couple of his own bets on it too."

"Yeah I know, he told me about it. I think all of you should give it up though. Nobody is ever going to see his face. I'm convinced that the mask is a part of his skin now and will never come off unless surgically removed."

"You might be right Ino, but it's still fun to wonder. And one day, I hope to uncover that mystery. Anyway, how are you and Sai doing?"

"Pretty good, I haven't heard from him since he left for his mission though."

"That's right, I forgot that he was on one. Kakashi told me during our training that Sai wasn't there because of a mission. When did he leave?"

"When you and I were shopping for your date. Don't worry, I spent the night before with him."

"Well that's good, what did you get to do?"

"Heheh, well, you see…" Ino, nervous? This can't be good. "Well, we were at Kiba's."

"You mean you went there after you left here?"

"No, I mean I was there and my shadow clone was here. Now, before you get mad just hear me out. Kiba was telling Sai how he was nervous, and he asked Sai to bring me over. He was just asking some questions and wanted to know if you really were interested in going on the date with him or if it was something that I talked you into. He was thrilled once he knew you were for real."

I thought about it. I really should be mad at her for ticking me but, "Don't worry its fine. Things seem to be working out, granted he isn't my boyfriend or anything yet. But he might be, soon anyway. And if you hadn't gone over there who knows, maybe he would have flaked out of the first date."

"I never thought of it like that. In that case, you're welcome."

"Ino, keep your tongue in your mouth before I remove it forever."

"Yeah yeah, anyway go ahead and hit play. I think we're done here."

We sat in near silence for most of the night. The only sounds that came from us were laughter and side commentary on the shows we were watching. In the end, we were both glad that we watched the Big Bang Marathon.

The next morning I woke up to a huge mess. Good thing I'm off today too. I slowly made my way to our fridge, stretching all the while. When I finally got to it I saw the pretty handwriting of my best friend.

_Forehead,_

_ Sorry that I couldn't help you clean up this morning. I woke up late and had to rush to work. I promise to help you clean up when I get home. Enjoy your day off._

_ ~Pig_

I smiled at how silly her request was. Enjoy my day off? She knows that I can't enjoy anything knowing that there is a mess like this lying around. It's one of the reasons we became roommates in the first place, aside from being best friends. She can't stand messes either, we're both detail oriented and like things to remain clean and tidy. Cleaning on my day off wasn't such a bad thing though. I liked to turn up the tunes and dance as I cleaned everything. And a dance party is a form of fun after all. Okay, so I wasn't normal because I enjoyed cleaning. Who cares? I'd rather enjoy a chore than hate it.

I put my hair up into a sloppy bun, flicked on the tunes and began my work. By the time two hours passed, I had everything picked up and put where it belonged, cleaned all the dishes, wiped off the table and counter tops and swept the kitchen floor as well as vacuum the carpet in the living room. I also managed to vacuum the couches, and mop the kitchen floor.

To say Ino was shocked when she got home was an understatement. She was thrilled. It didn't have as much to do with coming home to a spotless apartment like I originally thought. It was because Sai was by her side.

"Welcome back Sai." I reached out and hugged my team mate. Ever since his feelings came back, he's been more open to normal human behavior. He still called me things like 'Ugly' and 'Flat-chest' but I didn't mind. It was a term of endearment he had for me. I called him 'asshole', so it worked out. "How was your mission? I didn't know you had one until Kakashi told me during training Saturday morning."

"It was easy. After being in the Foundation, single person missions aren't really difficult to me. Sorry I missed training, I'll be sure to make it this Saturday, Naruto already granted me the next two weeks off."

"Great, sounds fun. Since Kakashi is on a mission, maybe you'd like to join us Ino."

"Sakura, he's your team mate, I trust you around my boyfriend. Besides, I work Saturday morning. But, the two of you have fun. Anyway, Sai and I were going to head out for some dinner, do you want to come?"

"No thanks, you two go. You deserve a date. I work early tomorrow, so I think I'm going to spend the night in the hospital tonight. I have some paperwork I want to get a head start on."

"Alright, well don't over work yourself. Make sure to actually sleep tonight, I know how you can be. Anyway, I'll see you at work tomorrow, I go in after lunch."

"Gotcha, have fun guys."

The door shut and I was alone again. Might as well pack my bag and head over to the hospital. Maybe I'll pick up some sake for Tsunade, I know she is there today. She's always there on my day off and vise-versa. Even though Shizune is her right hand, I'm second in command of the hospital. Shizune is more of a helper to Tsunade as well as the one in charge of the medical nin that get assigned to squads. Once my bag was packed with all I would need I headed out my window and traveled by rooftop. Who's to say that Kakashi gets to have all the fun?

A couple of hours later I was in the office of a very tipsy Tsunade. We had already managed to empty two bottles of sake and only had one left. We were savoring it. "Can I ask you something shisho?"

"You know you can Sakura, what is it?"

"Well, I was wondering…Is there anything that you, regret?"

By the pause on the conversation and the sorrowful look on her face, I could tell that there was, and that she wasn't expecting to hear this particular question from me. At least, not right now.

"Yes. I regret allowing Jiraiya to track down Pein. The idiot wasn't supposed to fight him; he wasn't supposed to get himself killed."

"But, you know it was his choice and he would have gone even if you had said no. Right? And it's not your fault that things turned out as they did."

"Of course I know that. But it doesn't stop me from thinking the way I do, from feeling the way I feel. Sakura, I'm going tell you something that not even Shizune knows."

"Go ahead, you can trust me. I want to know."

"Sakura, I…loved…Jiraiya. Much like you loved Sasuke. He wasn't just my last squad member, he was my close friend. I think about him, even now, and all I can think is, 'Maybe I should have said yes.' Just one time, that could have been all it would have taken to give us happiness. Maybe if I had tried to love him like he loved me, he would still be alive. But I was too much of a damn fool to notice my true feelings until it was too late. Don't make the same mistake I made."

That was a lot. Not nearly what I was expecting to hear. But it still gave me reassurance that maybe just maybe this thing with Kiba could provide us both with happiness in the end. "I won't Shisho, don't worry."

"Good, that's a relief. So, is this the part when you tell me about Kiba?"

"What the?" I was baffled, "How the hell did you hear about it?"

"Seriously, it's old news. Everyone knows that you have been on a date with him and that a simple date isn't all that went on. Every shinobi with a sharp nose is talking about how his scent was on you the next day. So, are you going to volunteer the information, or do I have to embarrass you until it comes out?" There's the motherly figure I know and love.

"Nothing that you're thinking happened, happened. All we did was hold hands, hug, and kiss. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not even officially his girlfriend yet."

"I know, but you will be in time. Trust me, woman's intuition."

"Now you know you're like a mom to me, so I think you mean, 'mothers intuition'."

"Yeah yeah, either way I'm right."

"True, well, thanks for the talk. I'm going to go ahead and head over to my office for some sleep. See you later."

"Goodnight, daughter."

** The Mission-Kakashi POV**

The camp fire was dying down and besides the guys' conversation; the only thing that could be heard was the pounding of rain outside of the cave's entrance. "Man, this is dumb. Why did it have to rain? It's gonna take forever to track them now. "Kiba was growing more impatient by the minute.

"Don't worry about it Kiba, once the rain stops we still have baykugan and Shino's insects. It'll take no time."

"Kakashi is right you know. And besides, we were going to have to make up camp anyway. Now is a better chance than any." Shino poked the fire with his stick, trying to control his boredom.

"Yeah Shino, I know he's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I just want to get home, it's already been two weeks, and we were hot on their trail when the rain started."

"You mean you just want to get back to Sakura?" Neji smirked at Kiba, he knew how he felt.

"So what if I do?"

"Relax, you're not the only one missing someone."

Really now? That drew my attention. "Neji, I thought you and Tenten broke up?"

The Hyuga prodigy looked over at me and I could tell there was pride in what he was about to say. "We did. She thought I was sneaking around, which I was, but not in that way."

Shino spoke up next, "Well, what other way is there?"

"I was ring shopping."

Everyone fell silent; no one dared to say anything. And finally, I could get some sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter. Have a lot going on. This is for my newest story favorites: Ne0nAngel and SageRune. Enjoy! ^.^**

"Tsunade, Naruto has summoned us. I already told Ino to help Shizune out while we're in the meeting." My motherly figure looked up at me from her desk. She had been working all night and was about to head home for the day, so I'm sure being summoned to the Hokage's tower wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Alright, let me just leave a note for Shizune to get this done in her spare time. I'm not coming back after our meeting."

"Sure, I'll be waiting for you outside." As I walked out of her office and headed towards the entrance of the hospital, I couldn't help but wonder why Naruto would want to see the both of us. He has never asked to see us both before. Maybe it's something to do with the hospital, that' the only thing that could make since.

"Hey, I'm sure they're fine. Don't worry."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Well, you look like you're thinking about something. I doubt Kakashi's team got into any trouble while they were gone." I stopped walking. I that thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Ever since they had left for their mission I hadn't worried about them once. And all because Kakashi and Kiba told me that it would all be ok, and that I had nothing to worry about. It was after all, just a tracking mission. Combat wasn't even supposed to be a possibility.

"Tsunade, you don't think..?" I couldn't finish the thought, I ran as fast as I could, jumped as many roof tops as was necessary and made it to Naruto's office in record time. All the while I could faintly hear Tsunade telling me to slow down, and that nothing was wrong. But I couldn't believe it this time, the only thing that would calm me down at this point is hearing what Naruto called us in for. All I could think as I opened the door to the Hokage's office was that my best friend and my almost boyfriend better both be safe.

Once I set foot into the office, I heard the door shut. I looked behind me and saw that Tsunade had caught up to me after all. "Sakura what's wrong?" I turned and looked over at my former team mate, my current Hokage.

"Naruto, what's going on, why do you need Tsunade and I here? Please tell me tha" I was cut off by a familiar voice. I turned and looked to the side of Naruto's desk, noticing for the first time, that the three of us aren't alone.

Pakkun looked at me and spoke up for the first time,"Sakura, Kakashi sent me to give Naruto their report. Don't worry they are fine. Now, please listen to what Naruto has to say." Tsunade playfully punched me in my arm and gave me her, 'I told you so' look. I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"What a relief, I was so worried. You never call Tsunade and I into your office together. What's up?"

"According to Kakashi's report they will be back tonight. Since Kakashi has already sent in his report, they will all be free. As you know, Kiba has about two weeks left of his vacation time after he gets back. So, with that being said, I want you to go on vacation for a week. Kakashi included in his report that he is tired of hearing Kiba whine about wanting to see you. I figure this will be the most effective way to solve this problem. Now, Granny Tsunade, I called you here so that you could make the proper arrangements for her vacation. I don't want Sakura in the hospital at all during the next week."

"Naruto, I agree that Sakura needs time off, he's one of the hardest workers I know. But, I'm going to get some sleep. When the team gets back, just have Shizune get me from my office apartment. I'll see you later." And with that she was out the door.

"Sakura, they finished their mission yesterday, so today is just travel." Pakkun looked at me like he was deep in thought about something before continuing, "Kakashi said that Kiba wants to take you out tonight when he gets home. Kakashi is expecting to see you tomorrow morning for training. Same spot and time as last time. He also said that he had some information on the problem you were trying to solve."

"Problem, what problem? Sakura, what's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing Naruto, don't worry about it." My blonde friend seemed hurt that he didn't seem to know what was going on, but after a while gave me his trademark grin. All was forgiven. He trusted that if it was a real problem I would let him in on it.

"Anyway, that's all he told me to tell. So, I'll be heading home now."

"Right, thanks Pakkun."

"Thanks."

"Sure, no problem. See you both next time." And with that he was gone. So, Kiba was coming home tonight, and Kakashi was too. Kakashi had a clue about who the flowers came from, I wonder if this meant that Kiba had sent them after all. I mean, they were on the mission together this past month, so it is possible that Kiba told him something.

"Sakura, go ahead and head home for some rest before they get home. I know how you've missed Kiba." Naruto smiled up at me from his desk. He was no longer the annoying little boy that drove me nuts. Now he was a hero of the village, no, the hero of the village. He was the youngest Hokage, the only other young one being his own father. I was proud to call him my friend.

"Yeah, thanks for this Naruto." I made my way to the window and jumped out, after all, roof tops were the quickest way home.

I made it home in record time, and when I got there I jumped straight into the shower to ready myself for the night. I want to look pretty, but not like I knew he wanted to take me out. So, once I hopped out, I towel dried my hair and put it up into a messy bun while it was still damp. Random strands hung down from the bun, I liked it. I made sure to leave a little hair around my face down too, even though I because a beautiful woman, I was still a little subconscious about my forehead. I opted out of make-up, because I never really wore it anyway. Once I had my hair looking perfect, I headed over to my closet. It was hot outside, not nearly as hot as Suna, but still hot nonetheless. So I opted for a flowy tank top with a floral pattern on it, along with some jean shorts and a pair of flip flops. Comfort, I was going for something I could be seen relaxing in the house in, or out doing things in town. This outfit was perfect. Once I decided that I was ready for the day, I decided to check around the apartment for any cleaning that my need to be done. Of course there was none. I went ahead and hopped on the couch and flipped on the t.v. I don't remember what I was watching, all I remember is hoping that Kiba would be coming by soon.

I felt my phone go off and pulled it out of my pocket.

_Sakura, just letting you know we made it back. Kiba is headed your way. See you tomorrow._

I was thrilled to hear from Kakashi and so glad that they made it home safely. I texted him my thanks, and see you tomorrow, and right as I hit send there was a knock on my door. I got off the couch and skipped over to my door, the built up nervousness became giddiness. As soon as I opened the door we were on each other. His hands were in my hair, angling my head up toward him as my hands were pulling him in closer as I balanced on my toes. When we were in I kicked the door shut from behind. He backed up a couple inches and gave me a single rose.

"I know it's not much, but this is for you. I wanted to get you something but I wanted to see you more. So I picked this on the way home." He kissed me again.

After a short while we separated and I backed up from him, still holding his hand of course. "I love it, it's beautiful." I let go of his hand and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water for my newest flower. It reminded me that the sakura blossoms were still alive in my room. I thought about asking him if he got those too, but thought better of it. If he said no, that would be awkward. As I set the flower into its new home, a thought occurred to me. "Actually, I think I want this in my room."

Kiba followed me into my room and stood in the doorway. He watched as I took the rose out of its cup and added to the vase of sakura blossoms. I looked over at him and smiled. But I wasn't expecting what came next; there was anger in his eyes and in his voice. I wondered what I did wrong.

"Where did the other flowers come from?" Good thing I decided not to ask if he got them. Time to use my excuse for having them.

"I bought them, Ino's store just got them in and they were mid bloom at the time. Her mom gave me a discount." Almost immediately after I said it he melted and looked really sorry.

"Oh, they're pretty. Sorry for over reacting, it just that the whole time I was gone, I wanted to see you. And well, I just got carried away I guess. Forgive me?"

I walked up and hugged him, "Don't worry about it, you've been gone you didn't know. And, I've been waiting to see you too."

"Good, I'm glad. Let's go ahead and grab some dinner then. I want to hear all about what happened while I was gone and how much you missed me. Judging by the way you jumped me at the door, I'm guessing you couldn't stand to be without me."

I gave him a playful push and just laughed. "Yeah yeah, well from what Pakkun said, you couldn't shut up about my awesomeness and you kept whining like a dog about wanting to be with me instead of on the stupid mission." I stuck out my tongue and surprised me my picking me up and putting me against the wall before kissing me.

"Remind me by never telling Pakkun anything again."

"Will do."

Not long after that we were out of the house and out in the village. Before I knew it we were at the training grounds, and Akamaru was there lying on a blanket. Kiba told me that before he came by, he had set up this little picnic for me.

We spent the rest of the day cloud watching and part of the night gazing at the stars. At one point we both fell asleep. Akamaru woke us up a short while later though. But I don't really remember much of what happened after that. All I know is that before I knew it we were at my doorstep, we kissed goodbye and then I was in bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I would like to thank ****Yolina (Guest comment) for the first review of my story! I loved what you wrote, I was having a bad day and it really lifted my spirits. I thank you for reading my story as well as writing to me even though we have a language barrier. It really means a lot and I hope that you continue to enjoy this story as I write it. This chapter is for you hun. :]**

The next morning when I woke up I was running late. Kakashi wanted to meet for training at 7, last time I expected him to show up late and he surprised me by being on time. I couldn't be late again. It was 6:30; I brushed out my hair before putting it up into a ponytail. I quickly put on my ninja gear and made my way to the training grounds. I knew I really should have made time for breakfast, but I packed some food pills instead. I ran into Kakashi on my way there so we traveled the rest of the way together in a comfortable silence. I don't remember much about training. We didn't have much conversation beforehand, we seemed to just jump right into our usual routine, he'd lift his headband, I'd pull down my gloves, and we'd go at it. Currently we were both in the midst of catching our breaths and observing all the damage we had caused.

"Well Sakura, I'd say this is the worst this place has ever looked."

I snickered at Kakashi's comment and he joined in. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Naruto is going to have a fit trying to find enough earth styles to fix this up." We laughed a little more before falling silent. I liked having him back; Kakashi was one of those friends that you can just be around and be happy. He can talk, or stay silent all depending on how you present yourself to him, and either way it goes usually both people will be happy.

"Alright, you know the drill; face me so I can check that eye." He gave a huff of defiance before turning towards me. I was pretty sure he was planning on arguing about it, seeing as he didn't use his eye too much today, but I knew him well enough to know that he would do so. Seeing as I knew his plan, I climbed into his lap as he turned; the shocked look on his face was worth the awkward position. Each of his hands were at his side and pinned down by my knees, effectively making him immobile since I used a little bit of chakra to force them down, not enough to hurt him though. So, with a very smug look on my end, I put my right hand against his left eye and began the process, my hand flickered from blue to green in no time at all. I could feel my chakra entering the socket and mending the damage he sustained during his mission as well as the little bit from today.

"You know, all you had to do was come up with a valid argument, you didn't have to sit on me."

"Yes I know, but with how stubborn you can be, I figured this to be safer, easier and quicker."

"Well, can't argue with you there." We were silent for a bit longer before I remembered the message he had sent me.

"Pakkun passed along the message, what did you find out?" I finished up the healing process and as I climbed off his lap to sit next to him he covered his sharingon back up.

"So, you understood the code did you?" He quitted his voice as if others were listening, as if what we were saying was really important, as if we were on a mission. I couldn't help but giggle at him.

I playfully slapped his shoulder, "Of course I did, you told him you found out information on my problem. And seeing as the flowers are the only problem I have, it was kind of easy."

He gave me his signature smile, closed eye, head tilt and all. "Yes, well I wasn't sure who would be with you and if you wanted anyone to know about it. Well, it wasn't a flat out admittance or anything like that. But Neji said that he was ring shopping for Tenten. So, I'm pretty sure you can count him out."

"Wow," I took a minute to respond, I didn't know what else to day. "I wasn't expecting that. So, how did you happen to find that out?"

He shut his eye for a moment and put his hand on his chin as he thought, he opened his eye as he began to answer, "We were on the trail, but it started to rain so we had to stop and find shelter. We ended up finding a cave close by and set up camp for the night. At this point we were already gone for about two weeks and Kiba was becoming impatient. One thing led to another, and well, Neji said that he and Tenten were having problems because she thought he was sneaking around. He was, so she wasn't wrong on that, but he was sneaking around to buy her a ring, not because he was cheating."

"That's interesting. So then, for suspects that would leave Genma."

"Why did you already rule out Kiba? Did I miss something?"

"Well, last night Kiba came by with a rose that he picked," Suddenly I felt nervous and stopped talking. I wondered what Kakashi would say about me letting Kiba into my room, then again, I was an adult and it's not like Kakashi was my parent, he was my friend.

"Yeah, I remember him picking it, go on." That impatient man. Always makes us wait on him but can't wait two seconds for someone to gather their thoughts.

"Anyway, he followed me to my room when I took the flower in there, I was going to put it in the vase with the others. I figured that depending on how he acted, I would know if they were from him or not."

"I see, so then since you know that they aren't from him, I'm going to assume that he didn't seem too pleased, am I right?"

"Correct you are. He saw them and seemed angry, he asked where I got them so I told him I bought them myself at Ino's shop. He cooled off and apologized after that."

"Tsk,tsk, lying to your boyfriend? Should you do such a thing?"

I shot Kakashi a dirty look, "Well, he's still not my boyfriend and besides that, I didn't really have a choice, though I do agree with you." Leave it to him to make me feel guilty, I just shoved it back though. After all, I didn't know where the blossoms had come from, so better to just leave it alone.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to make you mad. You should really learn to control your temper."

"Really now? My temper? You know damn well that you're pushing the buttons you know how to push." I crossed my arms and turned away from the silver head, I was contemplating leaving for the day.

"Yeah, you're right. So, let's go to Ichiraku, I'll buy to make it up to you."

I had to think on this. What could his angle be? In all the years I've known him, he has never once bought our meals, let alone his own! This is risky, then again I suppose it's worth it even if he does make me pay, his meals are never expensive anyway, he never eats much. With my decision made, I uncrossed my arms as I faced him, a big grin on my face.

"Sure, that sounds great. Let's go."

"Alright, but the only way I'm paying is if you get there first." And with that he was off. So, that was his trick. It took some skill on my end, but I beat him there. By the time we were done eating, Ayame and her father were laughing as a very unhappy Kakashi paid for a very happy Sakura's expensive meal. We both waved our goodbyes to them as we walked out of their little stand.

Kakashi was still counting what was left in his wallet as I turned and faced him.

"That was dirty you know."

"Yeah well, you're the one that changed the offer of you paying to you paying only if I won the race. Of course I was going to take advantage, you never pay."

"True." We turned and started walking off in nowhere in particular. "So, I'm guessing you're off today?"

"Yeah, Naruto is making me take a weeklong vacation, so I'm going to be off every day for the next week. He said I can't even visit the hospital or go anywhere near it."

"Why are you being forced on vacation?"

"Because of you."

He stopped in his tracks which made me stop a few paces in front of him before looking back over my shoulder. "What? Why'd you stop?"

"How is it my fault that you are going on vacation?"

"Pakkun told us that you were tired of hearing Kiba talk about how much he missed me. So Naruto said that the only way to fix that would be to make me take vacation while he's on his as well."

"I suppose that is my fault then. In that case, you're welcome for the vacation." He resumed walking and when he caught up with me I did the same.

"You know, even though I didn't want a vacation at the time, I guess I really should thank you. It will be nice not having to follow a schedule for the week. So, thanks."

He gave me a smug look, well, as smug as a man with more than have his face covered could give. "In that case, we'll have training every morning."

"For someone who isn't my sensei anymore, you sure are damn demanding."

"There is a very valid reason for that."

"Ha, Yeah. And what would that be?"

"Well, a while back when Sai had to read all those books on human behavior, he asked me to explain the book that he was reading about women."

I felt heat rise up to my cheeks, "It up, wasn't your perv books right?"

Immediately his arms flew forward and he was waving them everywhere and saying no over and over. I loved being able to embarrass him like he does to me. "It was some human behavior book, and he was in the section about woman. It said that women like controlling men. So, I am merely showing you my dominance by telling you about training rather than asking if you'd like to train."

I slapped him in the back of the head so hard, that he flew a good ten feet. All the civilians seemed startled at my sudden outburst, while our fellow shinobi merely laughed, shrugged, or just kept going about their task. By the time I caught up with him he had just started moving. He looked up and started rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner. "You know Sakura, I was just kidding around."

I smiled down at him and offered a hand to help him up, he gladly took it. "I know Kakashi, that's why I went easy on you." Once he was up his eye widened.

"If that was easy, remind me to never get on your bad side."

"Something tells me that after today I don't think you'll need a reminder. Anyway, I'm going to head on home."

"Gotcha, see you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow." I gave a mock salute and ran off in the direction of my home. Kiba knows that I'm on vacation too, so he bound to want to do something later. I knew I needed to clean up before then.

The only thing I could think about on my way home was the flowers. They weren't from Neji, they weren't from Kiba, but they were from Genma. I decided that the best I could do was enjoy them while they were alive and just throw them away later. After all, I'm happy with Kiba, no reason to mess that up by confronting Genma.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: This chapter is for nicolasstemarie2, you sweetie were the first to favorite this story, follow this story, and favorite myself as an author. It really means a lot and I hope that you continue to like and follow this story. I have a lot of ideas of where to take it, so at this time it's all about finding time to write as well as conquering writers block if I get it. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. ^.^**

I had been cleaned and dressed for about two hours and have been pacing my apartment for about fifteen minutes trying to figure out what to do next. Ino was currently at work, so I couldn't make any plans with her. It was going on three if the afternoon. I was contemplating asking Kiba about hanging out tonight instead of waiting around for him. After all, he has planned the last three times I've been together as well as expressed to me how he wants to become my boyfriend. Maybe I should throw the dog a bone-so to speak- and ask him. Another five minutes and I made up my mind.

_Hey Kiba, I finished my training with Kakashi. Just a heads up, he wants to train every morning while I'm on vacation. Usually we finish between 12 and 2. Anyway, are you busy today?_

After texting I sat down my phone and just stared at it, waiting for it to buzz so that I could happily snatch if off the coffee table and read his response. Before I knew it five minutes passed and I heard nothing from him. I began to feel a knot form in my gut. We were just fine last night…did he figure out that I lied about the flowers? Just as I was about to pick up my phone there was a knock on my door. I happily stood up and walked to my new distraction. As I opened the door, I saw Akamaru, he tilted his head to the side to show me the note that was in his collar. I grabbed the note, and patted him on the head.

_ Sakura, I lost my phone and can't seem to find it anywhere. I think I may have left it at your place last night. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to rent a movie and just chill today? I had training with my team today so that's why you're hearing from me so late. Anyway, just send a note with Akamaru to let me know. –Kiba_

"Akamaru come on in buddy, I'm going to get you some water while I write back." The giant dog gave a happy bark before following me into my home. He even wiped his paws on the welcome mat. I had to giggle at that, it was adorable. Even Kiba's dog was a gentleman. As soon as I had a bowl of water on the floor I walked over to my kitchen table and began writing.

_ Kiba, that's alright, I had training with Kakashi this morning too. I had actually just texted you about hanging out right before Akamaru showed up. If you want we can do a move and dinner at my place. Ino is kind of taking my place at the hospital, so I'm lending her the apartment there. We can look for your phone too, and if you want to bring Akamaru that would be fine, I can pick up a steak or roast for him. I'm going to head over to the market now, so if this sounds good feel free to meet me there. Or send another note or something._

_ Looking forward to seeing you, Sakura_

"Alright Akamaru, if you're ready I'm done. I just need you to take this back to Kiba. If things work out, you'll be seeing me again later." With a couple more laps of water, he looked up and barked at me before trotting over. He angled his head for me to put the note back in his collar. Then he licked my cheek and headed to the door, waiting for me to let him out so he could go back to his master. What a good dog.

After sending him off I went back to my room to double check my appearance. My hair was down and straight, still perfect so no reason to run my brush through it. I was wearing a yellow scoop neck t-shirt and jean shorts, my usual sandals in place. Once I decided I was happy with my appearance, I hopped out my bedroom window and headed towards the market. I shot Ino a quick text letting her know not to come home tonight and if she needed she could use the apartment in my office. She happily complied.

The thing I liked most about the market was all the different smells. The many food stands each had a unique odor radiating from their stands. You could smell the many fruits and vegetables coming from the various perishable stands, you could smell the different bakeries as they make their many creations as well. There was one stand I couldn't be around too long however, and that was the meat and sea food. Even with the products on ice, the food after a while still started to bake under the hot sun. This stand would shut down most afternoons, only staying open on the days they knew they would make money. With today being part of the weekend, it was safe to say they'd make good sales.

I was contemplating on if I should get the food I promised for Akamaru when I felt arms wrap around me. "Sorry I took so long."

I spun around and hugged him back. "It's ok, I was just trying to decide what Akamaru would like best."

"Well, he's here now if you want to let him decide." He gestured downwards and I smiled at the dog before petting his head.

"Long time no see buddy. Go ahead and pick what you want." He gave a happy bark and took a look at the stands. After a few moments he came back to us.

Kiba looked at him then back to me before answering, "He said the pork roast looks best." I gave a confused look, "Our brains are linked. Within a certain distance of one another, he can communicate to me with our mind. Comes in handy during battle. Most of our clan can do it, it's our kekei genkai."

I looked at him sheepishly before replying, "I know all that, but it doesn't make it any less strange to me." I suddenly felt bad. He looked downcast as if I hurt his feelings, I wasn't trying to really. It was just hard to wrap around your mind that your boyfriend, oops, almost boyfriend could communicate with his dog via brainpower. That's not something any girl can say.

I took my hand and guided his head so that he could look me eye to eye. "Kiba, I never said it was a bad thing. It's just different, that's all. It's actually pretty cool. It's like having someone you can share secrets with without ever having to state them out loud. It makes me wish that my family had been shinobi, then maybe I would have a kekei genkai as well." He gave me his signature boyish grin and I smiled at him before getting on my toes to give a quick kiss on his cheek. After that, we seemed to realize that we had been holding onto each other in the middle of the market for the past ten minutes and people were beginning to stare. We happily bought the food needed for the night as well as rented a movie from the local store, and before I knew it I was opening the door to my apartment.

Kiba began making himself at home and put away the groceries for me as I refilled Akamaru's water bowl from earlier. I didn't mind though, it was new. When I was with Sasuke he would never help me put away the groceries, he said it was the 'womans job', so I welcomed Kiba's assistance as well as the warm feeling I got from being around him. The more time I got to spend with him, the more I realized that what I had with Sasuke was never real love, only a strong fixation. Sasuke will still hold a special place in my heart, but no longer as my first love, instead it would be as one of my first teammates, he had a spot in my heart as part of team seven. Nobody held the spot for my first love, but with the way things were working out, Kiba seemed to be well on his way. I smiled at the thought.

I was still smiling as Kiba finished putting away the last of the groceries and turned to face me. "Um, what's up? Why the staring?"

I felt my cheeks heat up, as well as the rest of my body to be quite honest. "Well, I was just thinking, that ummm, I'm happy. I'm glad you came over and that we get to hang out this week with no missions and no work. It's great." I fiddled with my fingers as I spoke and when I looked back up he was smiling down at me. I smiled back, "So, it's still early, do you want me to go ahead and start cooking or do you want to watch the movie?"

"Either or is fine, if you're hungry _we_ can start cooking." I smiled at the 'we'. I always wanted to be in a relationship where the couple would do everyday tasks together, including cook. I always thought it was a sign of a healthy relationship, not to mention cute.

"Ok, well I know the pork roast will take a while to cook in the oven. So we can go ahead and start that the prep the rest while it cooks I guess."

"Sounds good to me, lead the way chef." I saw him reach behind him at the hook holding my aprons. That's right, I had more than one. Ino was capable of cooking, but she didn't enjoy it as much as I did. So I had about three aprons while she had none. I didn't mind though. He pulled all three off and examined them. After a moment he handed me the one that looks like a fancy dress up front, Ino had gotten it for me as a gag gift. She said it would keep me formal while I cook for her wedding, even though she was nowhere near getting married at the time. She always said she wanted me to be one of her cooks, the other chef would be Choji's mother. She was a genius with anything in the kitchen.

I felt nervous as I took the apron from him, he had a look of mischievousness in his eyes. As if he was rolling with laughter on the inside, "Can you go ahead and change into this one? I love a girl in formalwear." It took me a moment to get the dirty joke, but when I did I was pretty sure my face had never been so red. Laughter, he was laughing so hard. "Relax, I was just kidding. I had to see your face." He took the apron back and handed me the red one that I usually wore, and grabbed the plan black apron for himself.

I turned over and put the stove on preheat before bending over to grab the pan the roast would be cooking in. When I stood up and set it down, Kiba was right behind me with his hands around my waist and his head on my shoulder, much like how we were at the market. "You know, even though I was kidding, and I'm really hoping you won't hit me for this because I heard of what happened to Kakashi this morning, but I think if I wasn't kidding and you had changed into it you would have looked great." I became flustered, I had no idea what to say, and he could sense it. "But, seeing as we're not official yet and it is our first date at one of our places, all that can wait for later on, when we are official and have been official for a while. I don't want to ever force you into anything you don't want."

I felt a single tear roll down my cheek and immediately moved my hand to wipe it away. I didn't want him to see me cry, there was nothing to cry about. I was just so, happy and relieved to be with a good guy. Well, almost with a good guy anyway. I really started to wonder when this thing would become official. "So then, when does this become official, this is after all, date number for I think. How many until it's the real thing?" I turned around and put my arms around his neck.

"I don't really know. I'm guessing it becomes official when I ask you to be my girlfriend." He gave me a toothy grin, it was simply adorable.

I decided to press further, "And, when would that be?"

He bent his head down and kissed me firmly on the lips then hugged me, as he pulled away he stopped and whispered in my ear, "I was thinkin right now, if that works for you."

I was stunned, so stunned that I couldn't utter a single coherent word. So, I settled for what I could do, I nodded my head yes and wrapped my arms even tighter. I felt his arms wrap tighter around me as he pulled me in even closer to him. I loved the warmth. Sadly, we were taken from the happy moment, as the oven beeped to let me know it was done preheating, I jumped. Kiba laughed before letting go of me and grabbing the roast from the fridge to put it on the tray. Once it was in the oven, we decided to go ahead and start cutting the vegetables for our own meal. We had bought a huge roast, so only half of it would be given to Akamaru, it was preseasoned too, so all we really had to worry about fixing up were the vegetables.

He was cutting the squash on one counter while I was cutting the carrots on the other. Then it hit me, I dropped the knife and Kiba rushed to me as it clattered on the floor.

"Sakura, what's wrong? Is everything ok?"

"I just realized something."

"Yeah, ok what is it? Are you hurt?"

I paused before looking up and answering, "You're my boyfriend." Ok, so I felt dumb, but there was really no clever way to say it, at least I was sure there wasn't a clever way to say it. He didn't seem put off by my blunt comment or the awkwardness of the moment. Instead he scratched the back of his head in adorable nervousness and smiled just about the biggest smile I have seen from anyone-anyone but Naruto anyway.

"Yeah, I guess I am." We both started laughing, and the laughter still escaped our lips as we finished cutting the vegetables and added them into the oven with the roast. I liked the smell that radiated from the oven. I loved having a dog sitting at my feet as we sat on the couch watching a movie and waiting for dinner to be ready. I loved cooking dinner with a man. I loved holding hands and cuddling. I love the warmth that came from another person. I knew that even though I wasn't in love with him yet, I wasn't far off. Before today I knew that if I stayed with him I was bound to eventually fall in love with him. But now, after this experience, I knew that there was the very real possibility that I would fall in love with this man by the end of the week. The thought both excited me and terrified me. What I didn't know however, was if I would have the courage to tell him, or if I would wait for him to say it first. Only time could tell I suppose.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This chapter is for Toreh, thank you for the review and again, I loved your one shot! This story is also for an 'anonymous' review, I thank you for your review as well. I do know that there can be some spelling/grammar errors and I do try to catch them before I post, on the same note, if the errors you saw were in dialogue, or ones thoughts, they are most likely on purpose. Anyway, I thank you both for the reviews, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter. =)**

It has been two days since the delightful apartment date. And for the first time since then, Ino had a day off. So we were at our apartment, wrapped in blankets with hot chocolate and a box of tissues. I wish we could say that we were crying over the latest chick flick, but no such luck. Ino had brought something home from the hospital yesterday morning. Last night we both starting having runny noses and next thing we knew this morning we were stuck on the couch. We couldn't make plans with our boyfriends, or go training with our teams. But, at least we had the company of one another. At first we were mad when Tsunade told us not to heal ourselves, but it turned out it would be useless anyway. The cold was already messing with our chakra network, and if we tried to use our chakra there could be a negative effect. Tsunade said we needed to just pretend to be normal humans and sleep it off. She said that we were both on bed rest until better. We decided to make it couch rest though, after all, we could use the time to catch up on the recent events.

"Thanks again for giving me the apartment a couple nights ago. Kiba was over late."

"Mmmhhmm, no problem Forehead. But I do want to know the details." She shot me a wink and then sneezed into her tissue. It was funny and took away the annoying affect her winks usually had.

"Nothing really happened. We cooked and watched a movie."

She didn't buy it, she looked very skeptical at that moment. That means trouble for me. "Wait, you mean to tell me that nothing happened when the two of you were all alone here for hours. How long was it anyway?"

Like I said, trouble. "Well, if you also account for the time we were at the market before hand, I would say around eleven or thirteen hours. It was nearly morning by the time he left."

"Really now? But I thought you said nothing happened."

I sighed, "That's because nothing that you are _suggesting_ happened, happened. Yes we kissed, yes we made out, but we also just talked and got to know each other more. We shared more stories of past missions and our childhood. We both grew up differently since my family isn't a clan but a normal civilian family."

"I see, and what is it that you're not telling me." I glued my mouth shut. I wasn't sure if I was ready to tell her. Well, I was ready, but I wasn't sure how to compose myself well enough to tell her. "I'm waiting." Well, here goes.

I sucked in a deep breath, "Kibaismyboyfriend!" Her eyes got wide, and I could feel my heart racing, Ino was the first person I told, but only because training with Kakashi had to be post-phoned so he didn't find out this morning. I hadn't told him during yesterday's training because it was still too new. I'm not sure what difference a day made, but for whatever reason it made a difference.

"Can, can you say that again?"

I was about to tell her know, but I realized I could say it again. My mouth would let me. I took a couple breaths to calm my racing heart, once satisfied that I would be able to speak coherently I told her. "Kiba asked me to be his girlfriend, and I accepted." I'm pretty sure the squeals and high pitched girly laughs could be herd all over tour complex. I'm also sure that our coughing, wheezing and sneezing could be heard afterwards too, maybe even our nose blowing. But none of that mattered to me, for the first time in a while I was happy. I was happy with life and where it was taking me, and I liked that feeling.

Once we were over our fits from the sickness she spoke again, "I'm so happy for you Sakura. You deserve happiness and I'm glad he can bring it to you. I didn't want to say anything, but I could tell the positive effect he has been having on you. In fact, most of us can. And it's not just the effect he has on you; it's also the effect you have on him. He was already a good person, but now you've made him even better. The two of you are good for each other."

I smiled at my best friend. Even though she could be a bit of a pest at times, she always meant well in her heart. "Thanks Ino. Thanks for talking me into this." We just sat there for a few moments smiling at one another the way best friends do. I'm sure we would have hugged, but our energy was nonexistent due to the virus we had.

"Well, I have new too."

"Really? What's up?"

"Sai gave me a promise ring." It took all I had in me not to spit my hot cocoa all over her face. What bad timing for me to be drinking something.

"I never would have thought he would have come this far. I mean, just a few years ago he was blank. He knew nothing of emotions, not even his own. And now look at him, I'm proud that he's a part of my team and I'm glad he makes you happy."

**BUZZ**

"Go ahead, check your phone." I thanked her and opened up my inbox.

_Hey babe, I know you're not feeling well so I wanted to bring you some soup. Sai is a wuss and scared to get sick, so he is sending his gifts to Ino with me. But anyway, what kind of soup should I get?_

"Aweee! How cute!"

"What did lover boy say?" I was about to correct Ino, but this time I realized I couldn't. He was my boyfriend now, so I guess I'd have to get used to the nickname for him.

"He said he's bringing us soup. He wants to know what we want."

"Man, why do you get the good guy?! I know Sai is still learning some customs but geeze, he should be doing that too." I watched in good humor as my friend pouted. After a few moments I decided to tell her.

"Don't worry, he knows to bring something he is just a wuss. Kiba said that Sai asked him to bring your stuff too. They're together right now, it's just that Sai is cared to get sick so he's sending your stuff with Kiba."

"Yeah, well alright then. It still sucks but I'll take it. It's better than nothing. Um, I guess I'll take good ol chicken noodle."

"Alrighty, I'll let him know."

_Hey, Ino wants chicken noodle and if they have it, I really like sausage gumbo. But if not, I'll take the same thing as her. Neither of us is able to do much moving around, but we're on the couch. We have the living room window open, so it'll be easier if you come in that way. See you soon. :)_

"There, I sent it. I don't know how long it'll take for him to get here though."

It was about thirty minutes when we saw Kiba climbing in though our living room window; what a funny site it was! The poor guy was toting two bags full of different types of chicken noodle and sausage gumbo soup, two huge stuffed animals, and a brown bag that turned out to be full of chocolate. He also had a vase of yellow roses; which he placed on the coffee table. After setting down the flowers he walked over and kissed my forehead before handing me the stuffed dog. He threw the stuffed pig at Ino, who didn't seem too thrilled.

"What the hell is this?" Yup, not too thrilled at all.

"A thanks would have worked I didn't have to bring you anything. I'm not dating you. But all Sai had the brain to get before leaving to train was the soup. So, you're welcome."

"But it's a freakin pig?! Why does Sakura get the cute puppy?" Oh Ino, just when I think you've matured some….it turns out that you really haven't. I started to laugh at her theatrics.

"What's so funny Sakura?" Great, now it's turned on me.

"Ino don't you see? He obviously got it because I call you Pig all the time." And more laughter, Ino was none too happy. But I didn't care, the confused look on Kiba's face was simply too funny not to laugh at.

"Well of course that's why I got it. You call her that all the time, I thought she liked pigs."

Before Ino could have a chance to lash out again, I decided to speak up, "Ino just let it go. It really isn't his fault. He didn't know it was in inside joke between us."

My blonde companion seemed to think on what I said for a minute before she made up her mind on lashing out or letting it pass. "Well, I guess it is kind of cute. Thanks Kiba." I exhaled the breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

"You're welcome. Now, onto the other goods. I'll leave the chocolate with you guys while I put the soup away. Are either of you hungry?"

We both looked sheepishly at one another, "Yeah, we both are. We haven't really eaten since last night. We don't really have the energy to move around."

"I gottcha, I'll make each of you a bowl of soup then while I'm in there."

Ino and I chatted for a few minutes, maybe ten or so, and stopped when Kiba was in front of us. He was wearing my formal dress apron. He had his shirt off, and kept the pants on, but the effect he was going for was still there. I'm glad I'm with a guy that has a sense of humor.

Ino was the first to give in, "What the hell? Sakura he…Oh my." Before either of us could react, Ino took a picture of him with her phone and sent it off to Sai.

"Oh come on, it was to cheer you two up, I don't need the village to know about this."

"Don't worry, I told Sai to keep it to himself."

"Yeah yeah, last time I take care of my girlfriend's friend. You're nothing but trouble." He began handing us our soup, and he sat behind me on the arm of the couch.

"Actually, I appreciate everything you're doing. But you really shouldn't be here. I don't want you to get sick too."

He waved off my thoughts, "Don't worry about it. The Inuzuka have a very high tolerance for human illness. We generally can't get sick from colds, flu and other viruses. The exception to that is if our immune system is already down, but I'm healthy."

I turned and smiled up at him, it seemed like there were multiple benefits to being part of his clan. The thought of kids popped in my mind, but I shook my head, it was way too soon for any of those thoughts.

"But, I really do need to go. Kurenai called our group together for some training; it's been a while since she has been able to join us."

I could feel my smile dip down just a little but I made sure he didn't notice. He has already done so much, "Thanks for coming and bringing all the soup and stuff. I'm sure we'll start to feel better in no time."

"I hope so, I want to go out on a date while neither of us has to work." He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips, to which Ino pretended to gag.

"Alright, I'll see you later."

"Later." And then he was out the window again.

_Hey Sakura, how did the checkup go? Well enough for a date yet? It's the last day of your vacation, so I figured we should do something._

_Hey, yeah. I'm just now leaving actually; Tsunade said that I should be good. I just need to drink lots of water, but I already knew that. So, what do you have in mind?_

After texting Kiba back I began to walk home from the hospital. Even though I technically wasn't sick anymore I still felt weak, so I stuck to the streets. Just as I reached the top step of my apartment I realized that I wasn't alone. There next to my door was a pouting Kakashi, "Why the long face?"

"Ino wouldn't let me come in."

"Why didn't you just use the window?"

He crossed his arms as if to add to the effect and then looked away from me. "Simple, I didn't want Kiba to smell me in your room."

I started at him blankly for a moment before fits of giggles escaped, I tried to cover my mouth but it was too late, he already knew I was laughing at him.

"It's not funny."

"Well, why does it matter if he smells you in my room? No, scratch that, I know he's a tracker and his clan has a strong nose…but how does he know it's you?"

"Simple, he knows it's my scent from the times after training. The more contact we have, the stronger the scent." I thought about this for a moment, "Same goes the other way I might add. The closer the two of you get, the more my poor nose has to deal with. Though, not to the extent of his." Red, my face was so red. Before I knew what I was doing, I snatched his precious book from his hand and whacked him on the head with it, twice for good measure.

"Hey now! That's not fair, you asked a question and I answered it."

"You didn't have to say it the way you did though!"

"Well, what do you expect? After our last training I have been told to watch myself. Apparently when he ran into me on his way to see you, he smelled you all over me and wasn't pleased. Can't say I'd blame him."

I was completely flabbergasted. I got right in Kakashi's face and practically snarled my next sentence. "Nothing would ever happen with us, you were my sensei!"

Kakashi tried to back away from me while putting his arms out in a 'cool down' manner; the wall was in his way though. "I know that, but that doesn't mean he does. So you may want to talk to him."

"She doesn't have to." Both of our heads snapped to the side and suddenly I found myself furious at the one person I had been aching to see.

"You." I left Kakashi against the wall and marched over to Kiba, pulling on my gloves out of habit. "What is your problem? You should know I would never do anything."

"Sakura relax, it was almost a week ago. And if it really bothered me I would have said something to you."

"No Kiba, if it really _didn't_ bother you, then you wouldn't have felt the need to say anything to him!" I pointed back at my ex-sensei, and when I looked back at Kiba I could feel tears trying to form in my eyes. "Look, I don't think I want to do anything today anymore. I'm too upset and I honestly, don't know what to think about this right now. So, I'm going inside my apartment and I will stay there the rest of the night. I got my schedule from work, and Tsunade gave me tomorrow off, so I really don't go back until Monday. We can try something tomorrow depending on what kind of mood I'm in. Bye." And with that I went into my apartment, leaving Kakashi to deal with whatever it was Kiba may say. I really wasn't in the mood. Everything was going great, but now nothing was made into something without anything even being said to me about it… I felt like I wasn't trusted, and how could I be in a relationship with someone that felt they couldn't trust me? On the other side of things though, I was already too invested in this relationship. The way he tried to take care of me while I was sick just made me more attached. Before that I knew I didn't love him yet, but after that, and up until now, I just wasn't so sure.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you new story followers! ****bestfriendsmusic, hyuugahinata247, B2uty4nia, mijubuki, MercifulPeaceGraceWisteria, and Yuukii Chii KUSO! And also my new story favorite Nellie Night10. Once again, enjoy everyone. :)**

_Sakura it is 9 in the morning; if I get in trouble for coming late to training then you do too._

I glanced at my phone, it was one of the many messages I had received this morning; most of them were from Kiba though.

_I'm not planning to go to training today, I'm still mad._

_Are you mad at me too then?_

_ No, I'm not mad at you._

_ Then get your ass here, I've been waiting for two hours._

Even though I was in a foul mood, I couldn't help but smile a little. Training is something that I almost always look forward to; it's a way to let off steam. **BUZZ-** Another text.

_You know it'll be good for you, help you get off some steam before you see him later._

That ass, I really should stop being so open with Kakashi. He's beginning to know me too well.

_Fine, I'll get up and dressed and be there in a bit. By the way, I know you weren't there for two hours. You're never on time, remember?_

_ Well, lately life hasn't been putting old ladies and black cats in my way; thus I have no reason to be late, do I? _

I know I'm not angry at him, but it will be nice to punch the smugness off his face; even though I can't see him, I know it is there.

Training passed time quickly, and we were both very exhausted. I finally gathered enough energy to move, when I realized I didn't have anything to eat yet. I reached for the zip lock bag I had in my kunai pouch, but when I pulled it out Kakashi slapped the substance out of my hand.

"What the hell?!"

"Sakura, you can't eat those?" This is one of the only times since knowing the man that I can say I saw fear in his eye.

I snorted, "Yeah? And why not?"

"Well, I never tried them, but Naruto and Sai have. I don't know which stand they got them from, but even though it was a couple years ago I remember them both saying that they were horrible. Sai, who has no feeling or expressions, had both! I can't let you eat those."

I felt the vein above my eyebrow twitch, I'm sure if he could see my aura with his stupid sharingon he would be petrified at this moment. "I…Made…These." I didn't shout, but I'm sure the low tone I used to the point across.

Kakashi scooted away from me and slowly crawled towards the discarded bag of homemade food pills. Then, without ever looking away from me, he slowly reached for them and pulled the bag to his lap. "Well, uh, you see. They said those things, but I um…Well, I think they're great." He sweat dropped.

"Hmm, you do, do you? How about you prove it then."

He gulped, "Uh, sure." Next thing I knew he took out all four and quickly turned around to devour them. I was mad; I wanted to see his face. When he turned back around, I could see his mask move like he was chewing, it didn't last long though. Another gulp, "There, see? *cough* They're fantastic, I *cough* could eat these all *cough* day."

I just smiled at him, "You are a terrible actor. I know they taste horrible, it's just rude when you guys say it."

In a flash he was crouched on his knees behind me, kunai at my throat. "You knew? Then why make me eat them?"

I looked at him from the corner of my eye and gave a cheeky grin, "Because you slapped them from my hand, and I figured it would be a chance to see your face. I was wrong on the second though." I jabbed my elbow back, aiming for his stomach but missed.

And just like that, training was on again.

**Kiba POV**

I watched in the shadows as my girlfriend and her sensei trained this morning; making sure to hide my chakra. Sakura was late this morning, very late judging by the time Kakashi had arrived. It was very odd, she is generally one that is always on time; if not early even. After Sakura left both of us at her doorstep last night, I decided I needed to see what went on during their training myself.

-Flashback-

"You know Kakashi, I never thought you were one to go for much younger women…then again with those books you read all the time I suppose it was just to be expected." I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Kakashi took a deep breath before lazily rolling his lone eye.

"You can stop worrying Kiba, I don't look at her that way. I don't look at anyone that way. She is a comrade, and as her captain it is my duty to protect her. As her sensei, it is my duty to train her and teach her different things, not always ninja related. But, can you really say I did anything wrong?"

"Look, all I know is that after our training with Kurenai her scent isn't all over us!"

"Well then dog, looks like you're still just a pup. Because I'm not of your clan and I can smell her scent all over you right now." I was pissed. Kurenai isn't all over us during training. He probably just smelled the pat on the back I got for being able to hold my own against Shino and Hinata at the same time today. Nonetheless, I decided that I had nothing more to say and left.

-End Flashback-

I wasn't satisfied or unsatisfied with what I saw during training. They seemed to be right on the border line of teacher-student-friend and too friendly. But at the same time, I couldn't be mad about that because it seemed like they didn't mean anything more by it. I know I love Sakura, and I know I need to keep her as mine. But I don't know if Sakura loves me. The only way to make this right is to surprise her with something while at the same time telling her that I love her and exactly how much she means to me. We haven't been together long enough for me to propose, so I decided that a promise ring would do. Time to head to the market.

_Sakura, please meet me tonight at the BBQ place team Asuma would visit after missions. I really want to make thinks between us right. Will you come?_

I flipped my phone shut once again, that makes six times now-maybe seven. I was still frustrated with Kiba, but I knew I couldn't be angry at him forever. I really do care about him, and I want this relationship to work. I laid back at my mattress and sighed. After training Kakashi told me that Kiba had been watching us the whole time, which really peeved me. At the same time though, doesn't that just mean that he cares more?

_Sure, I'll meet you there. What time?_

_Great! Thanks. I was thinking 5:30, would that work for you?_

I glanced over at my alarm clock, it was only two and I had already taken my shower after training. Getting ready would take no time at all, I could even manage to fit in a nap beforehand.

_Sure, sounds good to me. I'll see you there._

Phase one complete. After getting her text I set my phone on my desk and jumped onto my bed. I flipped the little black box open and then closed it a few times. I really hoped she would like this ring. It's a simple band with a light pink almost white cherry blossom look to it. And in the middle is a decently sized princess cut diamond, traditional in color. Even though I'm not proposing tonight, I was still stressed, nervous and a little scared. I'm proclaiming my love for her tonight, and telling her that she is the only one I want to date, I'm telling her that I belong to her and that I want her to belong to me. What if she doesn't feel the same?

"Kiba come down stairs! Shino and Hinata are here for you!" At the sound of my sister's voice, I jumped off my bed and put the ring in my desk drawer. I had thought I was home alone. Once I got my nerves down, I scurried down stairs with Akamaru at my heal.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Well, we want to ask you the same thing. You weren't at training this morning."

I scratched the back of my head, "Yeah sorry about that. I had something to take care off. Did you guys wanna go train right now?"

Before Shino could respond Hinata spoke up, "Actually Kiba, we have been called on by the Hokage. We have a mission."

Great, just great. What wonderful luck I have. "I see, well lets head there then I guess."

"Alright you three," Akamaru interrupted Naruto with his barking of protest, "Sorry Akamaru, four." He gave a sheepish smile to my partner, "I have a mission for you that is C rank. Kurenai won't be joining you for obvious reasons, so I am placing Shino in charge of the squad. Now then, you will report to the Hidden Sand. Gaara is in need of a decent tracking unit, and the three of you are the best I have."

Hinata spoke up again; apparently she is full of surprises today. "Um, Naruto" she kept touching her pointer fingers together in that shy way of hers. "Do you think, maybe uuhh, Kakashi-Sensei should come with us? Y-you know, since he umm tracks too?"

Naruto gave a smile to Hinata to reward her for speaking up for once he has been trying to help her cope well with her shyness; he hasn't seemed to realize that he is the main cause of it. "Well, I had thought about it. But I think you three will get the job done. Anyway, I don't know much about the mission, that's actually all I know. So then I'll see you guys later."

"Naruto what time should we leave?" Shino asked, I'm glad he did, I was still mad about having to go, I didn't want to deal with this knuckle head; even if he is one of my best friends.

"Right now. Temari is at our village gate to lead the way; they have been having a lot more sand storms lately. I told her y'all could handle it, but she just wanted to make sure."

I jumped up to the front of his desk and slammed my hand on it a little harder than I meant to, "Naruto we have to leave now? Don't we need time to pack and say goodbye?"

"Sorry Kiba, but this is an important mission. Temari already has some bags packed and with her at the gate, there are some special weapons that she insisted you all have."

"But, I have a date with Sakura tonight! Man she's gonna kill me! You gotta help me out!" I was starting to panic, we were still in a fight and now I couldn't make it right, or even say goodbye to her. Sure I knew I would come back, but that didn't exactly make me feel better.

"Sorry man, look I'll tell Sakura I had to send you out on a mission. Alright?"

"Fine. I guess we can't really help it." I felt deflated, "But I need another favor to go with it."

"Sure, what is it?"

I pulled out my wallet and tossed it to him, "Here, I want you to join her tonight at the BBQ place at 5:30, please bring her some flowers too. There should be enough in there to cover her meal, the flowers and yours too depending on what you pick to eat."

"Oh, um sure Kiba. If Hinata is ok with it." We both looked over to my shy teammate who shook her head in acceptance. "Well, why is this so important, why can't I just cancel it and tell her you are on a mission?"

I took a breath of air before telling them all, "Well, we got into a fight yesterday. We haven't made up yet and I wanted to apologize tonight. I'm amazed she even agreed to meet with me tonight. So please, let her know how sorry I am, ok?"

"Yeah, sure thing. You can count on me, believe it!" He gave me a thumbs up and then stood from his desk to give Hinata a hug before the four of us left his office in the direction of the gate. I really hoped tonight would work out well, and I really hope that this mission doesn't last too long. I need to know things between us are ok, and I need to give her the promise ring.


	12. Chapter 12

It was 5:20 when I walked into the restaurant. The hostess told me that Kiba didn't arrive yet, so I decided to go ahead and get us a table. And now I just sat here waiting for him to show up, hoping that tonight goes perfectly and we can go back to being a happy couple. My anger for him and subsided some time during my nap, now I was calmer and more open to hear his side; I just hope his side of it wouldn't be dumb. It was 5:34 and I was stirring my drink around with my straw and tapping one of my high-heeled feet against the ground.

"Hey Sakura." That voice, it wasn't Kiba. I looked up to see my rambunctious best friend and Hokage. He was holding a pink rose and was in his Hokage robe.

"Uh, hey Naruto. What's up?"

He shuffled around a little bit before he handed me the single flower, "Mind if I sit down for a bit?" Well, this is awkward. I had no clue what was going on. Naruto is with Hinata, I'm with Kiba. Kiba asked me out, but Naruto comes. I couldn't make sense of any of it.

"Actually I'm waiting on Kiba.."

He sat down anyway and scratched the top of his head sheepishly, "Yeah Sakura, about that…"I didn't like where this was going but before he could go on the waitress came up and took his drink order. Once she walked off he looked back at me, "You see I had to send his team off on a mission." I felt tears trying to form in my eyes but quickly blinked a few times and looked down to the side. "I'm really sorry, I didn't have a choice. Gaara needed a tracking team asap and his team is the best one for the job."

I looked back up at my best friend, I could tell he really did feel bad. "Yeah, they are the best for that type of job." A deep breath, "It just sucks that he didn't tell me himself."

"That's my fault too. You see, Temari was already aiting for them at the gate. They had to leave straight from my office, they didn't even get time to pack. The mission is ranked C, but it still needs to get done quickly. Temari already had bags packed for them."

"I see. So, you came to tell me he couldn't make it then." I began to stand but before I could walk away he grabbed my wrist, forcing me to turn back and face him.

"Sakura, please sit down. There is more." I gave him a deep sigh but complied. "Thanks, well anyway. He said to tell you he is really sorry and he hopes you will forgive him. He didn't tell me what your fight was about though, probably because the rest of the team was there. Anyway, with Hinata's permission Kiba asked me to stand in for him." He gestured back to the flower, "That is from Kiba, he asked me to get it for you. He also gave me his wallet and told me to buy you whatever meal you want. He said to make sure you know how sorry he is."

A single tear ran down my cheek before I had a chance to swipe it away. Even though he couldn't be here, he still made a way to make things right. "Thanks Naruto. I guess we should enjoy ourselves then." I have him a smile before shortening the flower's stem so that I could put it behind my ear. He grinned back. "So then, how are things with you and Hinata?" Then he blushed. It looked like tonight would be good after all.

"So it's been two weeks since their mission, I have a feeling they'll be back soon." Kakashi and I were leaning against a tree and breathing heavily after a strict taijuitzu training session.

"Yeah, I think you may be right. I'm defiantly looking forward to seeing him."

"So, I take it you're no longer mad then?"

I graced his question with a snort, "Of course not. I told you he fixed it by sending Naruto to that date since he had to leave for the mission. Besides, even if he didn't do that I'm sure I wouldn't be mad after this time. Two weeks is a long time to be mad at someone that you haven't been able to see."

"True."

Once I got my breathing and heart rate back to normal I jumped up. "Well, I need to head to the hospital and get ready for my shift. I'll see you tomorrow Kakashi." My old sensei pulled out his familiar orange book and gave me a mock solute before 'poofing' off somewhere. It's amazing that the cover on that thing still protects it, with all the rips and such that is has.

I stepped out of my hospital apartment, nice and clean from my shower and dressed in my normal uniform. Ino and I were headed off to the cafeteria to have some lunch before the start of our shifts. Tsunade decided to join us since her shift had just ended, Shizune was keeping watch of the patients for us. But right as we sat at our table the doors to the cafeteria burst open and one of our nurses ran right up to us.

"Lady Tsunade, we need you! It's urgent. Hinata Huuga is in intensive care and Shizune needs your assistance!" All of us jumped from our table and started running down the hall, following the nameless nurse. They were talking about whatever was the cause of her getting in there, but I couldn't hear anything. The only sounds I could hear were my heavy breathing, my feet pounding against the tile floor and my heartbeat. They were back, Kiba was back. As much as I was worried about my friend, I knew that I needed to see Kiba and make sure that he was ok.

By the time we got there Shizune had just finished the healing process. Hinata had a broken leg and some internal bleeding but everything was fixed now. Shizune was exhausted from putting up the chakra to heal the internal bleeding, after her already long shift. She had sent the nurse our way because she wasn't sure that she'd have enough to work on her leg, it all turned out ok though. All that was left for us to do was put the cast on her leg, that would take no time at all.

Once we were done Shino entered the room with Naruto. It was just the three of us with Hinata now, something didn't feel right. "Hey Shino, where's Kiba." Naruto gave a guarded look before sitting next to me. Hinata woke up and he reached out for her hand, she spoke up before Shino could.

"Sakura, I'm so so sorry."

"Sorry, what do you mean Hinata? You have nothing to feel sorry about, you got hurt that's normal." They all looked at me, no one dared to speak up. I started getting a tight feeling deep in my gut.

"Sakura, if it wasn't for me, if, if I could protect myself…"She trailed off and a few tears ran down he face, I saw Naruto grip her hand tighter before she looked up at me. "Kiba, he and Akamaru, they saved me Sakura." More tears, and her voice got louder as well. I had never seen her like this, I decided I didn't like it. "The group we were tracking set up a trap, they took me hostage and interrogated me! That's how my leg got broken. But then, "She gripped her covers righter with her left hand, he right hand gripped Naruto's even tighter than before, "Kiba found be before Shino did. Right as Shino appeared, Kiba had already made a deal with the enemy. He gave himself to set me free. Shino and I already had an idea of how to free him, but then they….they.." She was balling at this point, looking back down at her covers. "They killed him right in front of us Sakura! They, they killed him and Akamaru! There was nothing we could do! If I had never gotten captured, he would still be alive! I'm so sorry! I hope you forgive me.."

Her voice broke off at the end, though I hardly noticed. I hardly noticed anything, nothing seemed real. Arms, arms wrapped around me. Shino? I blinked a few times, no, he was at Hinata's side trying to calm her down; her crying was a dull background noise even though I'm sure she was balling. Naruto wrapped his arms around me and put his hand behind my head, forcing it to rest against his shoulder. I couldn't feel the tears that were running freely down my face. I couldn't hear the sobs that were leaving my mouth, I couldn't move, breathe, or feel my heartbeat. Before I knew it, everything was black.

There was a soft beeping and I could here two people talking. No, three? I slowly opened my eyes, but had to blink a few times to adjust to the light.

"I see, so then he really is gone?" Kakashi?

"Yes, he saved Hinata for me. I think he may have been obligated since I helped him to try and fix the issue he had with Sakura since I sent him on the mission. I feel terrible."

"Naruto, it's not your fault. Kiba is loyal to those who matter to him. Hinata is on his team, so it makes since he would try to save her." I closed my eyes as Kakashi looked my way. "I just hope she takes it better once she is up. Sakura is always one to care deeply for those her matter for her."

The third person finally spoke up, it turned out to be Tsunade. "Sakura has always had a shining heart. I noticed that when I first became her teacher and I can only imagine how long the two of you have noticed it. I know she's going to take this hard for a long while. Kiba really mattered to her."

I couldn't take anymore, I couldn't listen to any more of this. "I loved him." All three snapped their heads my way before heading over to my bedside. I sounded groggy, distant, but they still heard me.

Tsunade was the first to speak up, "I know you did. I'm sorry Sakura, I know it won't make much of a difference, but I've had to go through this twice. I promise to be here for you if you ever feel you need to talk or anything." She reached down and wrapped her arms around my laying form. I stayed still, I knew if I responded to the hug I would just break down again.

"I loved him, and he didn't even know. The last thing I did was slam a door in his face, and all because of a stupid argument. Then, when he invited me out the next day to make up for the fight, I hardly even agreed to go." I started to cry again, but I was able to remain somewhat calm. "I loved him, and he probably died thinking that I hated him." I laughed a twisted laugh, it didn't sound like me. "I'm a horrible person."

"Hey Sakura no you're not! You're a great person that's why Kiba loved you!" My knuckleheaded friend slammed his hands against his mouth, shock on his face because of the secret he let out. Tsunade began to unwrap her arms from my figure and stood back up, she kept a firm hand on my shoulder though.

"Naruto, how do you know that? You don't need to be telling Sakura things right now, not unless they are true. Did he tell you this himself?"

He looked down to the floor, even though he was Hokage he still was scared of Lady Tsunade. If the circumstances were different I'd probably laugh. "Well, not exactly. But his actions sure seemed like it."

Tsunade gave a deep breath but she was cut off by Kakashi. "He told me."

Silence. The room fell silent. I had to break it after a few moments though. "Did, did he really say that?"

"Yes."

Naruto looked back up to us, from Kakashi to me, waiting for someone to say something or for Kakashi to say more. Then he looked towards our previous hokage.

"Kakashi, when did he tell you this and what did he say? I think she needs to hear this."

He gave one of his lazy sighs before honoring Milady's request. "It was after their fight, I was there you know. In fact it was kind of my fault, but I won't get into that it's not important." He looked over to me, "Sakura, after you shut the door on us he told me that I needed to stay away from you because you were his. He had gotten mad because he could smell me on you, he had thought that I made a move. But if you remember correctly, that was the day that you had to tackle me down to heal me because of how stubborn I am." He looked up towards the ceiling and gave another sigh before continuing, "Anyway, he told me that he loved you and that I needed to stay away. At the time, he didn't realize that I honestly didn't do anything, he was just following his nose." He looked back at me, "He loved you, but he thought I would interfere and take you away. That is why he got mad that day."

After some more silence I could tell that my usually quiet teacher had nothing more to say. The tears were falling freely, they were bitter sweet. I loved him, he didn't know but probably thought I hated him. He loved me, but didn't know how to tell me. Because I didn't speak up, he died not knowing my true feelings for him. Because he didn't speak up, he died without me knowing his true feels for me until it was too late. Looks like life really doesn't have any happy endings. I was starting to think that I never should have listened to Ino those couple of months ago. I never should have dated, then I never would have found love. But without love, I wasn't really living. Now love is lost and I was wondering if I would continue to live.

It was all becoming too much for me to handle, too many emotions for me to sort though. I asked everyone to leave my room, once they did I cried. I cried until sleep over took me, and still then I cried in my dreams.

The funeral was short and simple. There was no body recovered so there was nothing to truly say goodbye to. Still, we each took our turn to say something about him. Hinata cried as she spoke of the mission that was supposed to be C rank but ended up become A. At the end of her speech, Naruto spoke up to give us the good news that he didn't die in vain because he kept the rest of his team safe and the Sand Village captured his killer. The mission that he died on was a success, and thanks to him. The words were simple, but they still meant something to me. I was next, as I spoke I fought my tears, I ended up giving up the battle. At this point everyone knew that we had been an item, so I went ahead and told them all how great he was and how much I had grown to love the brave Inuzuka heir. I looked to the front row and saw his mother, Tsume crying and covering his mouth. His sister was hugging her to try and calm her down. I had only met his family a handful of times, less really, but the thought of seeing them this way broke my heart. He was my boyfriend, and the man I loved, but to them he was a son and a brother. It dawned on me then, that maybe if we had both said we loved each other they would be my family right now. It only helped the flow of tears run races down my cheeks and into the dirt below my feet.

At the end of my speech people started making their way home. It was only his family and myself left. I constantly traced his name in the Memorial Stone, my fingertips never left the letters. A hand joined mine and an arm wrapped around my shoulders. I looked up to see Tsume and Hanna. Tsume pulled my hand from the stone and wrapped both of hers around it while Hanna hugged me tightly from the side.

"Sakura, I want to thank you for loving my boy."

"Yes Sakura, thank you for loving my brother. You made him happy."

I looked over at my possible would-have-been family and gave a weak smile. "He was a great man Tsume. He didn't really leave me with any choice but the choice to love him." She gave a sincere smile and his sister laughed.

"Yes, well I imagine he was like his father in that way then." She pulled something from her pocket and Hanna released her hug in favor to stand by her mother. "I found this in his desk drawer after their mission. When Shino came by to tell me the news, he told me that Kiba had bought this for you." She held out a small black box and his sister covered her mouth as well as the gasp that escaped it. "He told me that he couldn't' remember if he was proposing or if it was just a gift or maybe even a promise ring. He didn't listen to closely when Kiba was telling him about it." I opened the box to reveal what is possibly the most beautiful piece of jewelry I have ever seen. I cried more, and ended up dropping the box as my hands found their way to my face and I fell to the ground on my knees. Hanna was right beside me, wrapping her arms around me in a warm embrace. Before I knew it Tsume was grabbing my left hand and sliding the ring onto my ring finger.

"I don't know what Kiba was thinking, and I don't know if this ring was made for engagement." She took a deep breath to stop herself from breaking down, her voice was already cracking with the emotion. "But I do know that he loved you and he got this for you. He wanted you to have this and I think he would want me to give it to you. I don't know what the future may bring us, I don't know if you will love again, though I do think he would be ok with it so long as you were happy."

I cut her off, "How can you tell me this? I don't want to love again! I love Kiba and I always will!"

"Yes I know Sakura. But again, we don't know what the future brings us. I believe that my son would be ok if you ended up loving another later on in life. But I also believe that he would want me to give you this anyway, so that you would know what his true feelings were. And Sakura, because of this, because of the love I know the two of you had, I want you to know something else." I looked up at her, tears running down my face, I looked over at Hanna and she gave me a smile even though tears were down her cheeks as well. "I want you to know that my daughter and I, we look at you and we see family." I balled again, it's like she was able to read the thoughts I had earlier.

Hanna spoke up, "I never had a sister, but after knowing the love that the two of you shared I could tell that we would have been great sisters. You are a kind hearted person who loved my brother deeply and because of this, I love you. Thank you for loving my brother Sakura, and I hope you will be ok with us considering you family."

Exactly like my thoughts of earlier. "Sakura, if you ever need anything, you can come by my place at any time. Even though you didn't get the chance to marry my son, you are still my daughter." Tsume kissed my forehead and kept her hands on my cheeks as her daughter hugged me tighter.

I decided I had to say something back, "I thought of this, earlier. When I was making my speech…I thought of us, as a family. Even though he can't be here, I'm happy that the two of you accept me."

We all sat there for what felt like hours. Tears were running down our cheeks and the beautiful day became clouded and rain started to fall. Still, we sat there just holding onto one another in silence. I sat with my new family, the family that wasn't really mine but loved me anyway. I sat with the family of the love of my life.


	13. Chapter 13

**Two Months Later**

It has been two months since the passing of my love. I was currently at his mother's house; we were preparing a Christmas meal. Nothing extravagant, just turkey, ham, some veggies and potatoes. The only thing that I was actually looking forward to was the cranberry sauce, even though it came from a can, it was always a favorite growing up. Hanna reached out to me a few weeks ago telling me of her mother's Christmas plans. Tsume wanted to cook a big meal and invite all of Kiba's friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve; it would be our first Christmas without him, which was bittersweet because ironically enough it would technically be our first one together. I kept my thoughts to myself though; we were all hurting enough without me pointing that out. Hanna had an idea for a gift exchange of sorts. She called it a 'Secret Santa' and we pulled names two weeks ago. The giftee wouldn't know who bought their gift. Each gift was wrapped in the same blue snowflake paper so that we couldn't memorize what gifts everyone brought it. As a ninja we're all taught to pay attention to detail, so we figured this would be the best way to keep who bought what a secret.

Even though it's only been two months, two very hard months, I could tell that Tsume was happier after having these plans and knowing that I was willing to help her and Hanna. I felt happier myself. I adjusted the ring on my finger after I finished cooking. We weren't going around telling everyone that we were in-laws, or family, but I did call her mom occasionally, and Hanna was becoming more like a sister every day. This would be the first time that our friends would see how close we have become. They all knew about the ring, I never took it off after Tsume gave it to me. But nobody asked me anything about it or hinted that they knew anything. I liked it that way.

"Alright guys, the decorations are set and they'll be here in about twenty minutes. How's the food coming along?"

Hanna looked from Tsume to me, "I just finished the turkey and am about to pull out the ham now. I think Sakura finished all the sides."

"Yup, everything is ready. Just need to set all the food out on the island. And set up the drinks on the counter behind you." I gestured behind Hanna and she turned to see the cups as well as the desserts we already had there.

"Alrighty, I'll go ahead and pull the drinks out of the fridge then."

"Thanks, if you don't mind I'm going to go upstairs and change then."

Hanna nodded her head as Tsume hummed her acceptance. I ran up the stairs and into Kiba's room. They left it just how he had it. The only exception being that we cleaned his dirty clothes, well only the really dirty ones. There were a couple of shirts that we didn't bother cleaning because there was nothing on them except for his scent. On some nights when I was having trouble coping Tsume would allow me to come over and stay in here, the smell of him in his sheets and the shirt I would borrow from his closet would always comfort me; it didn't take an Inuzuka nose to be able to bask in his wonderful scent. Because of those nights, I had some of my own clothes in his closet. Today I planned on wearing the dress that I wore to our first date together. Sure it was cold, but we were going to be inside, so the summer dress won't make me freeze to death. I took out the blue, purple and green dress and put it on to replace my hospital uniform. I had come here straight after work to help with preparing, so I had decided to leave it on up until now. Once it was on I looked at myself in the mirror he had over his dresser, I looked just like that day; minus the lack of make-up. I figured I would most likely end up crying at some point tonight, so no make-up seemed like the right choice.

Everything was going great and we were all having a good time. The food was better than expected and some of us were slightly intoxicated; except for Lady Tsunade, she was highly intoxicated. I laughed at my shisho. We all gathered around the ignoramus Christmas tree, Hanna and I spent two days decorating it, it was good to know that the hard work paid off. We also decorated the rest of the room in white Christmas lights; it was beautiful once we shut of the lights in the house. Tsume began passing out the gifts that had our names to each of us. None of us knew who had bought our gift, we wouldn't know until we opened the gift and that person either left a note inside or spoke up.

I looked around at each of our friends; Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Guy-Sensei, Kakashi, Naruto, Hinata, Shino, Sai, and Kurenai-Sensei (She left her baby with his uncle-Konohamaru) and Tsunade, along with Kiba's mother and sister of course. It was nice to see all of us together; it has been a very long time.

"Ok everyone, we'll go ahead and start to open gifts now. No particular order, let's all dig in!" After Tsume's words paper began to fly in the air! The only sounds to be heard was the paper shredding, and the 'oohs' or 'aahhs' as we saw our gifts, alright there was laughter too. I smiled as Ino showed Sai the shoes I had gotten her; she wouldn't shut up about them every time we passed the damn shoe store.

Once I saw that most of my friends had their gifts open I decided it was time that I open mine. I carefully tore at the paper around the small box. Once the paper was off I looked for any signs of who the gift could be from, but didn't see any yet. I looked up and saw everyone smiling at me, I smiled back before continuing. In the box was a folded index card with another smaller box. I opened the card, and smiled when I saw who the gift was from. After setting the card to the side I opened the smaller box. I wasn't expecting to get this gift, especially from the person who ended up having me. I pulled out the charm bracelet and admired the charms; a dog, the leaf symbol, the Inuzuka crest, a kunai with a small replica of the bells used for the bell test, and last but not least a heart with a key dangling from it.

Tears started to form at my eyes and everyone smiled a little bit more; it seems all my friends already knew who the gift was from. Kakashi crawled over to me and put the bracelet around my tiny wrist. Once he had it on he backed away and spoke, "The dog is Akamaru, I even had it detailed to look like him." I nodded my head and smiled for him to continue. "I added the leaf symbol so that home will always be with you no matter where you go."

He looked over to Tsume who continued, "Kakashi asked my permission to add our family crest. I already told you that you are a part of this family Sakura." She smiled and reached out to hold my hand.

"The kunai is because you have become a powerful kunoichi and the bells are there because that is the first test you ever passed as a ninja, and I'm sure you know why the heart and key is there." He gave me his signature eye crinkle smile and tilt of the head.

I was overcome with all sorts of emotion. I looked down at my hand that had the ring and now the bracelet and smiled as I softly cried. Next thing I knew I jumped into my sensei's arms, causing him to fall back a bit, but he caught himself. "Thank you Kakashi, thank you so much." He hugged me back, somewhat awkwardly before I let go and smiled at him.

Then I found myself in Tsume's arms, "Thank you for all that you have done for me Tsume. You really are like a mother to me, and I hope that I can make you proud one day." All my friends continued to smile at me, this is the most life they have seen in me these last couple of months. This is also the first time I have felt human since then.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter, more drinking, some dancing, chatter and friends reminiscing. Overall, it was an absolute success. Even though Kiba couldn't be here for any of it, it almost felt like he was. There was a warm feeling around me all night after I opened my gift, and every now and then it felt like his arms were around me. Tsume was right that night when she said he'll watch over me, looks like I have gained a guardian angel.

I said goodbye to the last guests and then headed up to Kiba's room; no matter how many times I sleep here it will always be his room. It was really late and I have to work in the morning, so Tsume insisted that I stay. I walked into his closet and changed into one of his shirts, because of how much taller he was the shirt ended mid-thigh on me. On my way to his bed I grabbed the picture off of his desk as well as his phone. I did this every night that I was here. The picture of him, Akamaru and I would go on the night stand facing me after I kissed it. Then I would cover myself with his warm comforter and inhale his scent off of his pillow. Once I smothered my senses with him, I would begin looking though is phone. I would start this process by first reading every text we ever sent one another. After that I would read the draft messages; they were full of things he was too scared to send me.

_Sakura, it's been a week and I am so stoked that you went out on that date with me. I'm pretty sure I still get a dumb grin on my face just thinking about the kiss._

_Hey babe, I miss you. I can't wait for you to be back from your mission, by the way I haven't told you yet but I'm pretty sure I'm falling for you._

_Hello Pink, have I told you I love you yet?_

There were about seven more of those silly little messages, but those three were my favorite. After reading his draft messages I would dig into his 'memos' app. The memos said things he liked about me, like my hair, and eyes and personality…There were other things listed that I can't say out loud, just the thought makes me turn crimson. I would always giggle looking at the memos; in my head I could see him telling me these things along with some sweet nothings. The very last thing I would do is look at the pictures he had of us and some of himself. There was one dirty picture in there; it was actually also in his drafts box. I about fainted the first time I saw it, ever since then I always skipped it. Even though we were together for a good while, we never got that intimate. Neither of us wanted to rush things, we were happy with enjoying what we already had.

My ritual was complete. I set his phone down by the picture frame and reached up to shut of the lap that was on the bed side. Once the room was shrouded in darkness I snuggled deeper into his covers and inhaled his scent a few more times. I fell asleep smiling, thinking about today and dreaming of a life with Kiba.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** ** Hey y'all, so I have a guest review that got posted on the 22 of April. They reviewed for chapter one. I just want to let you know that the great thing about fanfiction and imagination is that you can bend a character to fit into the place that you want them. So, if you didn't like the way I was having Kakashi act I'm sorry, but it's just the way he is in this story. With that said, I still thank you for your comment, even though you most likely didn't ready any more of the story. I also had a guest review on 23rd of April; Just want to say that I'm glad you like the story so far. As for those 'loose ends' you brought up, don't worry, the story isn't going to be complete for a good while. Just so everyone knows, I'm in the process of moving, so the chapters most likely won't get updated as quickly as they have been since we have to pack and such. Enjoy this chapter everyone. ^.^**

It was becoming spring; my favorite time of the year. Spring was never too hot or too cold, it was always just right. Tsunade provided me with the day off and I held great gratitude towards her because of it. On the first day of spring, I always-and I mean _always_-do my deep spring cleaning. Ino would usually join me but she has been busy with planning her wedding. Yup, Sai proposed! Nobody thought he had the emotion to want something like marriage so he really surprised us all. Ino was ecstatic! I knew beforehand that he was going to ask for her hand, he told me during one of our lone training sessions. He said that since I was her best friend, he felt he needed to ask for my advice.

**Flashback**

We had met at the usual spot to begin training. Kakashi was out on a mission and Naruto was behind on paperwork again, so it was just Sai and I. Sai seemed quieter than normal and seemed to lack emotion; funny considering that he was always quiet and never really had any emotion to begin with.

"Sai, what's going on?" Said Ambu member shot me a puzzled look. "I can tell that something is bothering you, just tell me what's up so that we can start training. I don't want you distracted, and then our spar won't be fair." He tilted his head slightly to the side before completely turning it and looking off in the direction of the village.

"To be honest, I am not sure. I am not sure what I feel or don't feel any more. I don't understand what is going on." It was my turned to be puzzled. My teammate looked back at me before continuing, "Sakura, I think I know what it is like to like someone. I like you and Naruto and Kakashi and Ino. The three of you are the only once that I feel anything towards; even if it is only slight." I was slightly startled to hear him saying he liked me, I knew we were friends but I didn't know he understood the emotion behind it. I guess the lessons team seven bestowed upon him really did help. "But now there is a different feeling."

There was silence as I tried to understand what he may be trying to tell me. "Sai, what kind of feeling?"

He looked up at touched his hand to his chin as if in thought; Like he was trying to figure out how to tell explain to a child that their beloved pet died. "While I have decided that being with you, and the rest of team seven is horrible," I cringed, he still needed to work on how to say things, "I feel something different to Ino. I do not understand it."

I smiled; I felt like I knew what he may have been feeling. If I'm correct, Ino is going to flip! "Ino is supposed to be different, she is your girlfriend."

"I know that, I have been told that many times. She has almost always been somewhat, pleasant to be around." His voice held a question even though what he said was a statement.

"Go on, tell me more."

"Well, sometimes when I think of her, my face looks like this." He gave one of his strange, uncomfortable smiles. I knew what he was trying to get at though. "And when she kissed me the other day I felt dizzy. I do not get it. You are a medical ninja, have I fallen ill?"

It took all my determination to confine my bark of laughter. Luckily I was able to cough instead, so he seemed not to notice. What I found funniest was that he didn't blush once, he still needed a lot of help with his feelings and emotions; but still I have to admit, he really has come far. "Sai, I know what is wrong with you."

He looked at me quizzically before a flash of fear or something similar appeared in his eyes, but only for a very short moment. "Ok. Go ahead and tell me what is wrong with me."

I smiled, "You my friend are in love." I watched as he thought about it, then once the knowledge seemed to seep in, his expression become one of wonder. It was the first time I ever saw a strong emotion of any type on his face. I wish someone was with us to see it.

He looked straight in my eyes, his blank expression was back. "Sakura, what do I do?"

**End Flashback**

I finished packing up the last box in my room. Since I knew Ino would be out all day trying to straighten out certain wedding plans, I decided today would be the perfect day for the surprise. Shortly after Sai had proposed I decided that my wedding gift would be the apartment Ino and I currently shared. Sai had always lived in the Ambu bunkers, so if I didn't move out they would have to find a place and I didn't want that. I wanted everything to be set up for them. I put the last box I had next to the door and looked at the spotless apartment I was gifting my friends. There were some delicate memories here, memories of Kiba; I tried hard not to dwell on that fact. Once I decided that I was happy with the way everything looked I began fixing up my old room.

Ever since we were kids Ino would always tell me that she always wanted a wall of books. I would always laugh at her since she wasn't much for reading; she just liked the smart look of it. I began building the twelve-foot long, eight foot tall bookshelf. Once pleased with my handy work, I put the books that both Ino and Sai owned onto the shelf. Only about half of it was filled; and out of that half only about three books were Ino's. I couldn't help but laugh. I turned to look at the rest of the room; I had a red loveseat against the wall that was adjacent to the book shelf. And next to the window I had Sai's art easel as well as a cabinet of art supplies I saw him eyeballing one day while we walked past the art store. With my hand on the doorknob I turned and admired my work once again before I shut off the light and said goodbye to the place.

"Alright Sakura, here's the last box you had."

"Thanks Tsume, are you sure this is really ok? You don't mind me staying here for a bit?" A few weeks ago when I told Tsume and Hanna about my wedding gift to Ino, Tsume jumped with the offer to have me stay. Even though I was thrilled with the idea, I was still nervous.

"Absolutely! Don't worry about a thing. I wouldn't have this any other way."

I smiled at the woman I considered to be my in-law, "I know, I just…It's _his_ room. And I want it to always be just that." She gave me a soft smile and I glanced around the room of my love, the room that is now mine.

"Sakura, in case you haven't noticed this room is huge. I know for a fact that if he were still alive, this room would be yours anyway. Because I'd make sure the two of you would have lived here while your home would have been being built within our compound." She drew me in for a hug and I gladly accepted. Neither of us shed tears, we both shed so many. "I love you, and you are a part of this family. Even if later on in life you fall in love-which I hope you do-I will always love you."

"But, why would you want me to fall in love again? I don't understand, Kiba is your son."

She let me out of her warm embrace, "Because I know that Kiba wouldn't want you alone. Kiba would want you to have someone to protect you. Even if the two of you never dated and he was in love with you, he would still want you to fall in love with someone. His heart has always been so big."

I've been living with Tsume for about four months now. Everything has been going great, on Saturdays Hanna and I will do the grocery shopping, and most nights we get to eat together as a family; the exception being if one of us is on a mission, working or I go out with friends. Some nights when Hanna's husband is out on a mission, she will join us for dinner. I kept the room exactly how Kiba had it but incorporated a few homey touches; my original photo of team seven, the photo of team Kakashi-including Yamato and Sai, and the picture of my parents-I missed them so much. Kiba's scent is still on most of his clothes, but it's no longer on his bed or pillow. Time is making things easier for me; it's been roughly nine months since Kiba has left us. The wound is still there, but it is finally starting to scab over. I wish chakra could heal a broken heart. Tsume and Hanna seem to be doing better too. All three of us went to a therapist once, the therapist thought that we were all showing signs of progress because I had moved in and we were all spending time together. He figured that since we were all close to one another it provided each of us with a comforting feeling; all of us agreed with his theory.

"Morning Sakura, do you work today?" I rushed past Tsume and she threw me an apple as I turned to face her.

"Yes ma'am, I'm actually about to run late. I'll see you later!" She gave a short wave as I walked out the door. I nibbled on my apple as I walked the few blocks to work; I was just walking up to my office when I noticed that there was a note on my door.

_Dr. Haruno,_

_I just want to say that I'm glad you seem happier, I would like to take you out to dinner some time. I know that you aren't ready yet, so I won't ask. But one day, when the time I right and I do; I really hope you will accept._

_ -One of your loyal patients_

I scanned over the note a few times as I walked over to my office chair and sat in it. I fiddled with the letter a few times trying to figure out how I felt about it. I decided that even though I was flattered I still didn't feel ready to go out and mingle just yet; looks like the mystery man was right on the money. I took another look at the note, the sloppy lettering looked oddly familiar; I shrugged it off though, most men have bad handwriting anyways. The ones that are ninja at least.

As I was gathering the files of current patients that were left on my desk from the day before, Ino ran into my office. She looked somewhat disheveled and out of breath.

"Ino, what's wrong?"

A few more breaths and she was able to stand up straighter, she looked me in the eyes and without a word we were out of my office. The look in her eyes told me one thing, Sai. I silently followed behind Ino and took note of where she was leading me; ICU for poison treatment. We finally stopped and Ino turned the doorknob and gestured for me to go into the room, it was then that I noticed she wasn't coming with me. As I hurried past her I noticed that tears were streaming down her face, whatever we were up against, it was bad. I quickly went to Sai's side and red the clip board that was on the wall as my hands roamed his body, green chakra incasing him, probing, trying to find out what the culprit of all this could be. The poison was around his lungs, but I had already guessed as much since he wore an oxygen mask. He had no wounds and another glance at his chart told me that he came with none. So it had to be a poison that he inhaled.

I extracted some of the poison and began working on an antidote. One of the main ingredients was aloe, which I found to be odd considering the healing properties it generally has. So, I set to work on making another poison to neutralize this one. The one thing that I could think of that would stop the work of aloe was steal boom; it was a very rare flower. So rare that we only had two of the preserved, I really hoped my idea would work.

I mixed the stealboom as well as a few other key ingredients and ran back to Sai's room. I had been working for about three hours, so now time was of the essence. Once I got there, I pulled off his oxygen mask and put the tip of the bowl to my teammate's mouth. He started waking up but was still very week, I rubbed his throat trying to coax his body into swallowing the substance. Once it was all down I put the mask back over his mouth and nose and waited. It was becoming night at this point so I sent Tsume a message to let her know that I wouldn't be able to show up for dinner.

**Sai POV**

I heard a strange beeping noise and two voices whispering to one another. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the lights of the room were off, except for the lap in the far corner of the room. I saw my fiancé and her best friend sitting on the small couch there, a look to the clock above them told me that it was 11:23, I was assuming P.M. since there was no light illuminating around the curtains at the window. I opened my mouth to say something, but Ino had already noticed that I was awake and was by my side.

"Sai, how are you feeling? I was so worried, what happened?" She wrapped her warm hand around one of my cold ones. Sakura walked up next to her and put her hand on her shoulder, a gentle smile on her face.

I coughed a little to clear my voice, "It was a trap, I was sent to one of Orochimaru's hide outs to gather the scrolls and notes that he had."

Sakura nodded her head, "Yes, I had asked Naruto for a mission to get all the information he and Kabuto had left. I figured it would help to know some of this poisons and such, even though he is gone you never know if an enemy already knows how to create his concoctions."

"Yes well, there was a jitsu left behind. If anything were to be touched, a toxin filtered the room; I'm lucky that it wasn't clear, that's the only way I was able to escape."

Ino drew forward to hug me while Sakura looked deep in thought. "Was this a solo mission?"

"Yes."

She suddenly looked easy, "Thank goodness, no casualties."

"Not only that, but my mission was a success. Naruto has everything."

**Sakura POV**

****I looked at my teammate with shock on my face. As proud as I was of him, he knew better than to give mission results before coming to the hospital for treatment. I thought about yelling at him, telling him how stupid he was, but thought better of it. Ino was in here; I'd safe it for training.

"Sakura," I was startled out of my thoughts when Ino pulled me in for a hug, "Thank you, thank you so much." I hugged my best friend back.

"No problem Ino."

"Why don't you head home, I can watch over the hospital now that I know that he is ok. You need some sleep."

I smiled and said my goodbyes to each of my friends before jumping out of the hospital window and heading home. There was no sound as I entered so I assumed Tsume to be asleep. I decided to stop in the kitchen for some water but before I could turn on the light, I heard murmuring.

"Tsume, I understand that you and Sakura consider each other to be in-laws, so I really hope I'm not to forward in asking this."I took note of the lazy drawl, it wasn't Kakashi, but it was familiar. It was a voice that felt similar to velvet on skin. "I spoke with Tsunade earlier this week, asking for permission to date Sakura."

I flung my hand over my mouth to hide the gasp that escaped my lips. They didn't seem to hear me but I knew better, I knew that Tsume had heard me. I waited to be called into the room, but there was no such order.

"I understand, and I am ok with whatever Sakura wants. No matter who she ends up with in life, she will always be my daughter-in-law. However, the man that she chooses needs to be one that can accept that a part of her heart is dedicated to Kiba. I have no doubt that she will love again, but I also have no doubt that she will ever forget. Are you prepared?"

"I've thought about this for a few months, and I have wanted Sakura even since before Kiba and her got together." Genma, he was the one in our kitchen.

Tsume let out a tired breath, "Very well, just don't push her into anything that she may not want. There is a party coming up this weekend at another house within our compound; I'll make sure that you get the details."

"Thank you." I heard the sound of chairs scooting across the floor and decided that now would be my chance to escape to my room. Getting caught would just be embarrassing.

As I rushed into my room I jumped onto the bed and let my brain play. Genma asked for permission to date me, Tsunade and Tsume both approved, there was a party coming up that I know nothing about. Tsume was inviting Genma to said party. This weekend was going to be different. There was a gentle knock on my door before I heard it creak open.

"I know you're still up, can we talk?"

I rolled onto my back before sitting up. "Sure."

Tsume came and sat at the foot of the bed, "I know that you heard everything. I didn't call you out on it or end the conversation because I felt you needed to hear it."

I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them before setting my head on my knees. "I knew that you noticed me."

"I noticed you before you ever entered the house, sense of smell remember?" She pointed to her nose and I allowed a small smile to play at my lips. "Sakura, it's been close to a year. While I know that you loved him and still do, I really think you should get back out there."

Another one of these talks, but this is the first time she has told me that I needed to find someone. "I just don't think I'm ready for a serious relationship."

"I understand that, but I also understand that you never will be ready for one unless you have some non-serious ones."

I looked up at her, "What do you mean by that?"

She let out a sigh and looked away, "As humans we all have needs; companionship, sexual, the need of a partner." She looked back at me, "Let's face it. Based on that boy's track record, he could be serious now but go back to his old ways later. I really think that if you could find anything in him that you like, maybe you should have a relationship with him; it's a place to start."

I nodded my head, "I'll consider what you have said."

"That's all I can ask. Now, what hours do you work on Saturday?"

"I'm off."

"Perfect, as you heard there is a party at another house within our compound. I want you to come along."

"Got it." She reached out and patted her hand on my knee, "Expect Genma to make a move."

With that she left me in my room with my thoughts. My thoughts ended up turning to dreams.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thank you ****Didd23 and DanceAnna and BloodyAyame23 ****for adding this story to your favorites list. ^.^ Didd23; I am sorry that chapter 12 ruined your day, lol. But I hope some of the later chapters will make up for it; assuming you will still read on. And DanceAnna; I am thrilled that you love this story and that you favorited; thank you! mijibuki; Thank you for the comment; I hope you will read on! :) Enjoy everyone.**

Saturday came sooner than expected. I decided to keep the conversation between Tsume and I a secret from Ino, or anybody for that matter. I decided that I didn't need anyone else to try and guide me into any directions; it was time that I started making choices for myself. I finished preparing myself for the party; I wore a forest green tube dress that ended about mid-thigh. My heals were open tow and added about three inches to my height. My hair has grown some this past year, it's now in the middle of my back, and the front still looks the same. I have a feeling that no matter how old I get I will always be self-conscious of my forehead. I decided to wear my hair in simple ringlets, done in a simple low side pony. I decided that while I should wear make-up, I would like to keep it simple. That being said, I had done my eyeliner in a catlike fashion and wore plenty of mascara. Blush and lip gloss completed my face. I donned the last two items needed for my outfit, the ring and the charm bracelet.

Tsume and I walked to the party in a comforting silence. Occasionally we would talk about our day, but for the most part we just admired the clouds in the sky. We finally arrived to our destination, I began wondering whose home we were about to enter. It was within the compound, so it had to belong to another Inuzuka, but it wasn't Hanna's house. Judging by the amount of people I saw inside, I assumed that we would be some of the last to arrive. I hated being late. Tsume walked in front of me and opened the door.

"WELCOME HOME SAKURA!" I jumped at the noise and put my hand over my heart while I took deep breaths to calm my nerves. Along with the greeting, there was a giant banner that said 'Surprise'. This was unexpected. Everyone stared at me silently as I tried to make since of the situation, then something occurred to me.

"Welcome home?" I turned to look at Tsume whom was holding out a key.

"Sweetie your birthday was a week ago. Did you forget?"

I thought for a minute and blushed when I realized she was right. My birthday was a week ago, and nobody said anything to me. I was now 21. "Well, I guess I didn't think much of it, I was so busy with work and all…"

"Yes, well this is your gift!" She handed me a key with the Inuzuka crest on it.

"I don't… I, don't think…I understand..."

"As much as I love you and want you to live with me forever, I know that you can't. You are a grown woman and you deserve your own place. I started constructing this place the week that you told me about your gift to Ino and Sai." I looked over at my two friends; Sai had his usual bored look while Ino held the most dazzling smile. "I want you to be happy Sakura, and no matter what happens in your life, you will always have a home here within the compound."

I took a real look at the room I was in; it looked like the living room. The floors were a light bamboo wood and the walls were a rich tan, there was white chair railing all around. I loved it. "Tsume, thank you so much." I quickly wiped away the lone tear that ran down my cheek.

"Now now, no crying! This is your party go and enjoy it!" All of the sudden music began playing and someone shoved a drink into my hand. I looked to my left; of course it was Tsunade trying to persuade me to drink.

"Relax Sakura; I'm covering for you at the hospital tomorrow. I want you to enjoy your night." I smiled at my shishou and without a second thought downed the sake she provided me with. Tonight is a night I deserved to enjoy, and I decided that I would.

A few hours went by and I had done my rounds, even though I didn't plan any of the festivities, I wanted to be the perfect hostess. I wanted to get a look at the second story, but decided to wait until everyone went home. From what I gathered from the down stairs, there was a half bath and the living room and kitchen were open concept; the separation of the two was an island-bar combo. The only room that was separated was the formal dining room. The kitchen was the same color and flooring of the living room, the cabinets were white and all my appliances were stainless steel. A peak in a couple of cabinets told me that my items had already been stocked and someone added a few other things. Judging by the style I guessed it to be Ino; I needed to be sure to thank you later.

There was a slow song playing in my living room and I glanced over from the bar stool I sat at to see the room still full of bodies. I knew that a bunch of people were here when I first arrived, nurses, and ninja were the guests. I also knew that the majority of them already left, this only further impressed me of my houses capacity.

I heard someone sit on the other side of me and slowly turned around.

"Are you enjoying the night?" Genma, he was sliding me another glass of sake as well as some of the chocolate colored strawberries from the fondue fountain located in the dining room.

I hummed in response and took a bite out of a strawberry as well as a sip of sake afterwards. I didn't feel like I looked sensual, but judging by the look in his eyes I guessed I was mistaken. "It has been really nice."

He leaned in closer to me and gave a gentle kiss on my cheek, "Happy Birthday cherry blossom." When he pulled away it was too slow, it may have been the alcohol in my system, but at that moment when our eyes met I really wanted to jump his bones. I was just glad that my mind was still awake enough to stop me.

"Listen Sakura, I know that you've been through a lot this last year. But I really want you to let me take you out tomorrow."

Even though I saw this coming before I ever arrived, I was still surprised by it. Genma is a flirt, womanizing playboy; that made him a perfect fall back. As much as I started to hate myself for the idea I was also thinking that Tsume was right, that I should start dating again. I gave him a coy smile and took another bite of a different strawberry, making sure to pull it from my face slowly and close my eyes as I licked my lips. By the time I opened my eyes his were filled with need, I gave him a shy smile.

"I've been informed that I'm off tomorrow, so I guess it couldn't hurt." I figured the only way to keep this lecher interested was to play hard to get, and play I shall.

I watched as what I said reached his ears, he seemed to sit up straighter; his hand was still traveling up my thigh though. I was drunk; but not that drunk. I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder as I leaned in, "I train in the morning, it'll be over around one. I'll see you then." I began my escape towards the living room when his voice called for me.

"Am I meeting you there or here?"

I looked over my shoulder and tossed him a wink along with a coy grin, "I'll leave that up to you." I walked out.

I met up with Tsunade and told her how tired I was getting. There were about ten couples left so she gladly kicked them out for me before she gave me a kiss on the forehead and said her farewells. I really hoped she made it home ok, but soon after the thought passed my mind I remembered her scary strength and decided that she most definitely would.

Quiet, silent, there were no more sounds in my house, no more people or music; just trash. Lots and lots of trash. I decided to hire some genin to clean the mess sometime this week and began trekking my way upstairs.

I noticed that the great room upstairs was a bright red and the floors were done in a black carpet, some would find it too gothic, but I liked the different look. I traveled down the short hallway and checked each room that I passed; study, storage-judging by the number of boxes, and a bathroom. There was only one door left, I turned the knob and the door gave way and showed me one of the most amazing rooms I have ever seen. It was surprisingly big for the size of the home. There was even a bathroom connected with a huge garden tub and glass shower. I looked at the vanity, the double vanity and smiled. I also saw two walk in closets on either side of the vanity. This was a bathroom I could get used to!

Back to my room, the sheets and comforter were black; the comforter also had pink cherry blossoms spaced throughout. The bed was platform with drawers underneath and had a black frame. I took note that it was also a king. The carpet was the purest white I had ever seen and the walls were a very rich but dark purple, with the lights off you would swear that it was black.

I lay on top of my bed and before I knew it I was fast asleep.

Training ended up being light today; all of us were feeling the effects of the alcohol from the party. Instead I spent the morning healing Kakashi, Sai and myself and we just hung relaxed in each other's company. Kakashi was up in his usually tree reading his dirty book while Sai sat at the base of said tree drawing. I was lying down next to Sai observing the clouds and thinking about what's going to happen when Genma picks me up.

"Sakura." I jumped out of my light snooze and wondered when I fell asleep to begin with. Genma kneeling in front of me while Sai shot glances his way; which ended when he noticed that I noticed him being nosy. I yawned and began to sit up. "Training huh?" Genma shot me a smirk, his senbon moving to the side of his mouth.

"That was the intention, but those two are lazy and let me do all the training." I stuck my thumb back towards Sai and looked up into the tree to stick my tongue out at Kakashi, who just gave his solute wave along with his signature eye crinkle smile. Genma returned the gesture.

Kakashi jumped from his perch. "So Genma, what's up?"

Genma gave Kakashi a smug look before putting his arm around my shoulders, it caught me so off guard that I didn't even think anything of it. "Well Kakashi, if you must know, I am taking the lovely Sakura Haruno out today."

The silence that followed his cocky statement was so pure that I was able to hear when Sai's pencil hit the grass. Kakashi and Sai both looked at me as if I sprouted a second head, for a second I even glanced to the side to see if I did.

"Ugly said yes to you?" Sai, always a way with words.

"Yes, the beautiful pinkette said yes to me." I felt his arm tighten around my shoulders as he pulled me in closer to his body.

"Sakura, if you didn't agree to this give me the signal and I'll take him out. I know he's my best friend, but as a team mate and your team caption it is my job to keep you safe." I looked back and forth from my two team mates and wondered; if they are acting like this, what would Naruto do. I decided I was glad that he couldn't make training again. Was it really so hard to believe that I was going to try dating again?

I thought about that last thought, I stopped dating when Sasuke left again while we were dating. I was reluctant to date Kiba and he was only supposed to get me started; but I fell in love and he died. Now nine months later, I was about to go out with one of the village's most flirtatious men that is known for sleeping around. I decided that their looks and statements of reluctance were perfectly valid.

"Don't worry; we're just two friends going out for some lunch." I tried to reassure the other men in my life.

"Well then," Kakashi put his book in its pocket. "If that's all it is, I suppose Sai and I could join the two of you. Lead the way."

"Sakura, just be honest with them." I looked up at Genma whom shot me a cocky grin before looking at my previous sensei and teammate, "I asked her if I could take her out. She said yes. I never told her if it was as friends or as a date. I'm taking her out so that she can get to know me so that I can then date her and so on and so forth. So, with that said, goodbye."

There was a poof and the next thing I knew we were in front of my house. He led me to the front door, "Go ahead and change into something civilian, I'm going to go home and do the same and come back for you."

I nodded my head and entered my home. Once I heard the expected poof, I looked out the door and saw the gust of leaves. What could he have planned?

**A/N:** **I think this may be the last chapter that I post who is favoriting/following my story. For some reason I don't always get the e-mail alerts even though i am signed up. And I don't want to accidentally miss anyone and have them get offended. I just want to thank everyone that has favorited/followed so far. All of the comments have been great too. I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. ^.^**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sorry for the two week wait on the update. We have been moving and just got somewhat settled in. I am still unpacking tons of boxes but trying to write when I do have free time! Also, currently I'm unemployed so that gives me free time, but I'm about to get a job so that won't last. Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. ^.^ Oh, and I got three new favorites of story, BloodyGoddess, XxKymiraxX, and Blossoms of The Night. Thank you :)**

I began a cluster of curses as I opened my closet, in that moment I realized that all he said was civilian clothes. He didn't specify if fancy or casual or skirt or pants. Ugh! I dragged my palms down the sides of my face as I peeked around my wardrobe. In the end I ended up grabbing a pair of dark skinny jeans with some frays on the thighs, and a red scoop neck shirt with a black flower pattern down one side. Since we didn't really train today, my hair was still down and straight down my back, I chose to keep it this way. While reaching the top of my shoe rack I heard a knock at the front door, "Be there in a sec!" I looked back at my shoe rack and decided that my bright red pumps were the ones for me today. There was more knocking on my door and I scurried down the steps while trying to put my shoes on; had I not been a ninja I definitely would have tripped and fallen down the steps.

The pounding was still there as I yanked the door open. Blonde hair, blue eyes…whiskers…SHIT! Those two rats must have told him.

"Sakura, Kakashi told me about your date with Genma. You don't have to go! I can, I can…tell him you went on a mission; yeah! That'll work. So, go back upstairs and I'll take care of everything." My loud annoying obnoxious best friend and teammate smiled at me and crossed his arms while giving me a look of authority.

"Naruto I appreciate it, but I do want to go."

Blue eyes went wide and I swear his jaw dropped to the ground, "But, but you can't. Genma is not that kind of guy and what about Kiba?!"

I slapped his cheek and tried really hard not to let any chakra seep into it. Tears fell down my cheeks, "What about Kiba, what about KIBA? Don't you bring that up to me, I know all about him. I loved him Naruto and I always will, he was the best thing that ever happened to me and may ever happen to me. That being said, he is dead Naruto, DEAD. I can't go living my whole life for something that now can never happen, at least that's what all of you had told me when Sasuke had left the village, this is no different in that respect. I have to move on, Tsume has even been encouraging me to do so, and that was her son!" I wiped off the tears before glaring at my hokage, sending him the iciest look I could muster, "Kiba will always have a part of my heart, but I have to move on. He would want me to."

"Sakura, you ok?" I looked past Naruto and saw Genma walking up my sidewalk, he wore dark blue jeans with a whole on one knee and a black V-neck t-shirt, and surprisingly he looked pretty good. Ok, so maybe not so surprising, he has always been good-looking after all.

Naruto was about to say something but when he noticed how furious I was with him he decided better of it. "Yeah, she's good. I just came by to let her know that Sasuke left her a letter." He looked over at my face and gave a grim smile, "I'll go put it in your room and lock up the house for you. If you need anything later, then you know where to find me." I silently nodded my head to Naruto before thanking him and walking off with Genma. I was begging to wonder which was the most unexpected, going on a date with Genma or getting a letter from Sasuke.

Genma wouldn't tell me a word of where we were going, let alone a hint. Because of this, the walk to the place that I found out to be a sushi bar was boring and uneventful. It probably didn't help that Sasuke was in my head the whole time, why would he send me a letter? He broke up with me to leave the village again after deciding that he just didn't feel comfortable here after everything the elders had done. He had tried to live here, I really saw the effort, and I'll give him that. But in the end, trying just wasn't enough. We never proclaimed love to one another, ok maybe I did from the time we met, but he never said anything of the sort back. I felt that he did love me and in his strange Uchiha ways would show me he loved me, but still, getting a letter after nearly three years is odd.

"Sakura are you listening?" I jumped at the voice and left my trance.

"Yeah, sorry. What's up?" It was then that I realized we had apparently held hands while walking, how out of it was I?

"I said we're here." I looked from Genma to the place before us.

"I've been here before, tons of times. My parents used to bring me here." I left out the fact that I haven't been since my parents have passed away, I tried not to think about that bit of information. I was already distracted enough with Sasuke on my mind, damn you Naruto, but I didn't need to add my parents death to that thought process either. There was already another elephant in the room anyway…Kiba…

"Oh, I didn't know. Well, if you want we could go..."

I gave his hand a little squeeze before smiling up at him, "Don't worry, I love this place." He gave me his cocky I'm-a-good-looking-guy smile and led me into the small sushi place. I say small, but really it's just the outside that is small, once you go in it seems rather large. The hostess sat us at a table near the back but we still had a view of the outdoors, it consisted of a single cherry blossom tree.

"Your waitress Aya will be here shortly, in the meantime here are your menus. Have a great evening." I pretended not to notice the way she gave Genma all the attention and the wink she gave him while she thought I wasn't looking-a ninja is always looking.

"Sorry about that," I looked up from my menu and saw Genma still reading his. "I um, took her out a few times."

I smirked, "My, my! Don't tell me that your charm worked on her too?" That caused him to finally look up from his menu and straight at me. I expected him to be taken aback by my comment, but that seemed to not be the case.

"Yeah well, my charm as you put it, works on everybody."

I couldn't reply because our waitress stopped by our table. "Hello, my name is Aya. Sorry for the wait, can I go ahead an order your drinks?"

Genma spoke up before I had a chance, "Sure thing, I'll take one of the strongest sake you have and the lady," He gestured towards me, though the waitress didn't look my way, "Would like a martini or something equally girly."

I snorted, that caught both their attention. "I'll take the _strongest_ sake you have please, and two bottles." I'm not sure who was more startled when she walked away; the waitress who thought I was rude to go against my date's suggestion, or Genma whom just realized he was paying for my meal. It is after all, a date.

Once the waitress was out of site I decided to continue the earlier conversation, "Maybe I agreed out of pity though, or maybe I'm just curious as to if you're a good lay."

The senbon dropped from his mouth and he leaned forward, "Really now, you said yes because of pity and curiosity? I think you already know I'm a good lay, just ask anyone." He stayed leaning toward me in his chair and slipped his senbon back into his mouth.

I decided to challenge him back, I leaned forward in my chair so that our faces were only about eight inches apart, "Yes well, you say I can ask any girl, but that is a lie. You see, I know that you don't sleep with any of the kunoichi; the women you go for are always civilian. The only acceptions to that rule are Ino Yamanaka and myself, but I haven't slept with you."

We both looked to the side as the clanks of glasses were heard; there were two bottles of sake and a glass of his sake. The waitress was already turning the corner, guess she didn't like how close we were getting. I pulled his attention back to me as we were still close, and I moved in just a hair closer. "Ino only slept with you because she was curious as to how all the guys were, if memory serves correct, you were in fourth place. Which isn't bad considering the only guys she didn't sleep with were Kakashi and Guy. Guy because he's well, Guy. And Kakashi because he is so dense when it comes to women, she could be grinding him and he still wouldn't get the hint."

"Then why don't you ask her for some details instead of playing with curiosity? Because lets face it pink, I know it's not pity." He pinched the senbon between two fingers and pulled it out of his mouth and into his cup of sake, the tip hardly sticking out.

"Because I can't, after that night I agreed not to ask her about it." I put my hand behind his head and pulled him to my mouth, he tasted pretty good. He put his tongue to my lips, begging entry and I granted it, from then on it was war between our mouths until we decided we needed air. We both sat back and drank some of our sake while we stared at one another.

"Sakura, what is this to you?"

"This? This is a date." I threw back the last of my glass before pouring more, the stuff was strong, but Tsunade wasn't just my sensei when it came to healing and combat.

"Let me be more specific, this obviously isn't just a date. What are you after?"

I knew he was a ninja, and I knew he was smart, but I didn't realize he was this smart.

"Sakura, what do you want from this? I know women, and I've asked you out a thousand times, what changed your mind?"

I hummed and swallowed the drink that was in my mouth, "The truth then?"

"Yes, the blunt, honest truth."

"Ok then," another sip, "Sex." The senbon dropped from his lips a second time tonight. Before he could ask me to elaborate I did, "Look, I heard you really do have feelings for me so if what I want doesn't do with what you want then that's fine, I'll go somewhere else. Truth is, I've had a rough few years. I've only dated a couple of guys, one of which left the village a second time and the other whom died before we could even get engaged even though he had the ring. His own mother pretty much adopted me into the family but you already know all of that. Well, Tsume also tells me to branch out and that I can't be single forever. Thing is, I'm not ready for a real relationship."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"Friends with benefits. I know it may be hard for you, but it's what I need." I opened my second bottle of sake and wondered where the first one went. "I want us to get our needs met so to speak and have that be it. I know you have feelings for me though, I heard you talking to Tsume."

"So you heard that?"

"Sure did, so I understand if you can't do this."

He waited a few seconds and sloshed his drink around the glass, "I'll do it, but with one condition."

"Sure."

He put the glass down before leaning towards me over the table again, "I want more dates."

"Why?"

"Because while you just want your needs met, I want an actual chance to woo you. That means that sometimes we'll meet up just for the sex, and other times we may just have a date or sometimes both. If anyone asks if we're dating though, we'll just shrug and give no answer. That being said, I also don't want you sleeping or dating anyone else while we're doing this."

I thought about it, it seemed fair. "Deal." We clanked our glasses and before the waitress could come for our orders he left money on the table and we were out of there. We didn't make it far before our lips met and hands wondered, we were about a block from the restaurant and in an alley, but that didn't bother me any. The sake was doing its job and his lips were warm against my own. I felt one of his hands grip the hair in the back of my head to hold me in place while the other slipped up my shirt.

I let out a moan as his hand reached my left breast; he seemed surprised that I wasn't wearing my bra. His lips pulled away from my mouth and his teeth grazed my bottom lip, I decided to just let go and enjoy the night. That was my plan, after all.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the very late update! I just realized that it was nearing a month. An old lady was crossing the road...I mean, I got lost on the path of life...Black cats...Anyway, this is chapter 17 and it is a short one, I apologize for that. I'm gonna go ahead and start writing the next chapter so that the wait won't be nearly as long! I also got a job working full-time that I'm going to start soon. But I thank all of you for sticking with me. -) I have some new follows, Momoko09, and Katt Massacre5. I hope all of you enjoy this next chapter. I have also written a one shot, called "He Used to Be, He is", it is also a Naruto Fic. I'll shut up now. :)**

I felt the heat on my face and slowly opened my eyes, blinking occasionally to try and fight the light of the sun. My head was slightly pounding and I hardly remembered any of the night, I guess the sake I had ordered really was the strongest. I turned over in my covers and glanced at my clock, it was going on ten in the morning-good thing I'm off today. Next to the clock was a folded piece of paper with my name written in writing that I didn't recognize, I grabbed it anyway.

_Sakura, Last night was great. Sorry I had to go; Kakashi came by to tell you that training is canceled for the next few days. He's going on a mission, I am too along with Sai. I can't wait to see you when I get back. This time, you can pick the place._

_Genma_

I set the note on my bed as I got up and stretched. I was finishing up a giant yawn when I remembered a detail from the day before-another note, a note from Sasuke. Where would Naruto put the damned thing, assuming that there really was a note anyway? After all, my best friend was known to pull pranks. I thought for a couple of minutes before the answer came to me, my desk. Of course would put it here, I'm always at my desk researching medical information. I looked across my room and let out a quivering breath, I really hoped this wasn't a prank. I don't think I still love Sasuke, but I do know that there are still feelings there. Well, I think there are anyway. I counted to three and made my way across the room.

There, on my desk, was an envelope with my name on it. It was a yellow-off-white color, I couldn't decide which. I flipped it over to open it and saw the Uchiha crest sealed on the back. I carefully pealed open the envelope, as if if I were to do it wrong it would explode. The paper was out and I took a couple of breaths before opening it. It was like my feelings intensified at the scent of it, the scent of Sasuke. I thought I would be over this obsession by now, goodness! I'm a grown ass woman…but apparently this is my weakness. I opened the offending paper.

_Saku,_

_I know I haven't spoken to you in the past few years, and well I'm sorry. I want a chance to see you and talk to you; I cannot go to Konoha though. I'm currently in Suna and have been for about a year. Gaara has been sending me on nonstop missions for him so that I could earn his trust, because of my past and such. Well, now I am a Suna shinobi. Naruto already knows all this, but it was in the treaty not to speak of it until all was official. So, don't be mad at the idiot. Anyway, if you're able, please come to Suna so we can talk. I'm on off-duty for about a month. I'll be waiting._

_Sasuke_

My heart, it wouldn't stop pounding. This damn Uchiha! Every time I get somewhat comfortable with my life, every time I become stable, he comes back like a plague. When he left we were on good terms though, so is this really all that bad? Yes, of course it is, I have a somewhat-boyfriend, err…Kinda… And well, then again, Kiba is dead…All I need to worry about is Genma, and then again, that just started and will be easy to end. But he's on a mission…

I realized how scatterbrained and flustered this letter had made me and threw it down. I let out a yell of frustrated curses and sat back down on my bed to figure out what I should do.

Kiba is dead. Genma is a plaything, and it just started so I can end it. Life here is doing well though. I need to see Sasuke, I need to understand…We need to talk.

I stood back up and stopped over to my closet, I decided to dress in my ninja attire. I quickly brushed my teeth and jumped out my window, I made my way to the Hokage's office using nothing but rooftops. On the way I realized how I really could use a change of scenery.

I opened Naruto's window and saw that he was already holding out a scroll for me. Nobody was in the office but him. "Sakura, I have a mission for you."

I let out a breath of frustration, "Naruto, what the hell? You can't be serious, you knew about Sasuke, you know what I must do!"

My best friend put out his hand in a silencing gesture, "Your mission is to go to Suna and assess one Uchiha, Sasuke. Their medical team is not equipped to heal is sharingon, you are to check up on him and make sure his is in perfect condition for our ally Suna. The Kazekage is expecting you to arrive within 2-3 days and due to the number of shinobi I have out, you will have to do this mission alone. The expected time I want you there for is three weeks, during with Tsunade will watch over the hospital with Ino. You are to leave within the hour." I felt my jaw pop open and I stared at my best friend, the seriousness in his tone of voice, the hard lines of his face, is this really the same knucklehead I grew up with?

I bowed before my hokage to hide my smirk, "Yes Hokage-Sama, I will leave immediately." I made my way back to the window and turned back to give Naruto a small smile, "Thank you." Then I was gone.

**Naruto POV**

_Hokage,_

_I have been running the Uchiha ragged on missions these past few months. While he is still performing each mission above my expectations, I am starting to become a bit concerned, during his examination by my medical team, they realized that there is nothing they can do for his Sharingon. I request that you send one of your medical members here to check on him. I have spoken with Sasuke and he personally requests that Sakura be the one to come. _

_Thanks,_

_Kazekage_

I smiled at the seriousness of Gaara's writing, even though we were both professional we took to calling each other by our titles instead of our names. It was a fun game that we started once took over for Konoha. Gaara, while being our strongest ally, was also one of my best friends, and we both needed fun little inside jokes to keep us sane. I poised my pen and began to write.

_Kazekage_

_I have read and your letter and acknowledged your request. The Haruno, Sakura is on her way and knows of her mission. She will be there in about two days, judging by her eagerness. Take care of my top medic._

_Hokage_

I giggled a few more times before I sent the letter off with a pigeon to be delivered. Then I skimmed back over the second letter that was included with Gaara's, this one wasn't from him though.

_Hey Idiot,_

_I'm now a shinobi of Suna, and as such have a steady life…as steady as a ninja's life can get anyway. With that said, I want to try things with Sakura again, if she'll let me. I fell more at home here than Kohona, not that it is any of your business. So, send her here._

_Please._

_Sasuke._

That guy will never change.


End file.
